All I Ever Wanted
by Descena
Summary: Stephanie and Cena work together but John is falling for her. Will Stephanie admit her feelings as well? Heyman returns and takes over ECW with plans to take over WWE too. But Steph is there to stop it. But it gets out of hand...who'll get hurt?
1. Chapter 1

**Takes place at first in 2003, but is an AU. I took real events in the WWE and their personal lives and put it into the story, and then made some up, so...enjoy and remember, review!**

**_Includes all major characters; Stephanie, John Cena, HHH, Trish, Randy, Dave, Torrie...etc_**

* * *

The stadium was packed; every seat was filled with every fan cheering. It was amazing. To stand in the center of all that energy; to the delight of millions, in attendance, and watching at home…it soothed her and boosted her confidence and self esteem. Of course she knew the stunts and most of the fights were all scripted and not real, but she let _them_ believe they were. It was her job, as well as those under her and her family, that she saw they got the entertainment they demanded. Even if it meant hurting her character's persona; it was for the fans.

Stephanie McMahon stood in the center of the ring, holding the microphone, as she looked around and took in the crowds' energy. She glanced over at Michael Cole and Tazz talking to the fans at home, and waiting a few minutes as they went over they're dialogue. As she brought the microphone up, signaling that she was ready to speak, the fans cheers, and few boos, died down. When she was satisfied, Stephanie began to speak.

"Good evening, Las Vegas!"

Once more, the crowd roared. Stephanie smiled and began to walk around the ring, showing her newly slim figure in the dress and high heels she was wearing.

"Now, Las Vegas is known as the place to take risks," she continued. "And tonight, here on Smackdown… because we are here in Las Vegas, Nevada, I'm going to take a risk!" The crowd cheered once more as Stephanie continued her speech. "I had to pull a lot of strings to make this happen here tonight, but I did it anyways. As you all know, Wrestlemania is only a month away. In honor of that very fact, and the main event at Wrestlemania, I've decided to have an inter-promotional match as the main event, here, tonight, on Smackdown!"

Once more, the crowd was on their feet as Michael and Tazz announced there shock and what it could mean for Smackdown. "So," Stephanie said, cutting off the cheers. "Tonight, in this ring, it will be a tag match. Triple H and Batista against Kurt Angle and the Undertaker!"

As Stephanie's music hit, she dropped the microphone and exited the ring as the fans continued to cheer their approval of the main event that they would see live. Four of the biggest names in the business were all going to be a house show, and they couldn't wait.

* * *

Another person that couldn't wait was John Cena. He watched as the cameras panned on Stephanie exiting the ring and making her way to the back. He was so focused on the young McMahon that he didn't notice anyone was behind him until her felt a stern grip on his shoulder. Startled, John turned around quickly and saw Vince McMahon grin at him. 

"Quite a looker, huh?"

John blushed and chuckled with embarrassment, knowing he was caught staring at the boss's daughter. "Uh, yes sir."

Vince laughed and shook the young man's hand. "Well, at least you're honest." John laughed nervously and followed Vince as he began to walk towards the gorilla. "One thing that'll do you good here, Cena, is honesty. I don't respect a liar because that means that they don't respect me. You never, ever, cross the boss," he added.

John nodded. "Got it."

"We on commercial break?" Vince asked one of the crew men.

"Yes sir."

"Good." As they stopped by the gorilla, near the entrance to the ramp, Vince spun around. "Also, when we finally develop a storyline for your character, don't let the fans get to you. Chances are, they'll boo you at first because they don't know you. All that'll do is given Stephanie a chance to determine whether you'll be a face or heel." John nodded, following along as much as possible as Vince gave him the run around. "Also, don't try and be intimidated. Most of the guys here are really good and they'll give you advice and help you out, but you do have a few that take their jobs extremely too serious…myself including."

John nodded, absorbing his words as Stephanie came up from behind him, getting John's full attention. "Daddy, has Dave and Paul got here yet?"

"No Princess," Vince answered looking at his watch. John frowned at the nick names. "But they still have time before I light a fire under their asses."

Stephanie looked at John. "Who's this?"

"Oh, Stephanie this John Cena, John, my beautiful daughter Stephanie, _your_ boss. Stephanie, this is your newest recruit."

Stephanie gave her father a look, and then looked back at John, with a disgusted look. "_He _is the new wrestler? The one you said has such 'huge' potential?"

"Yep," he answered, patting her daughter's hand. "I have to go make a few calls. Have fun you two."

Stephanie watched her father leave, then looked back at John and shook her head as she rolled her eyes. John gave her a confused look and looked down at his clothes. Running shoes, long jean pants and a jersey with a baseball cap. What was so wrong?

* * *

"Boy does this bring back memories," Paul commented as he and Dave walked into the arena. 

"Yeah," Dave agreed. "But not so much for me; I wasn't here as long as you."

Paul nodded. "And you didn't have to deal with the McMahon's as much either," he added, chuckling.

Dave smiled. "True…but I didn't marry the boss's daughter either, did I?"

Paul frowned. "Hey…how many times you going to bring that up?"

"When you stop finding excuses to talk to her, or see her," Dave replied, while Paul rolled his eyes. "If I remember correctly, you're the one who left her. You need to move on man and forget about her."

"We're just _friends_ now," Paul informed him. "Nothing more."

Dave sighed and shook his head as they entered the locker room. "Alright man, whatever you say."

Upon entering the room, Paul and Dave noticed a newbie getting dressed in the corner. "Hey," Paul greeted, dropping his bag.

John looked up, recognizing Paul as Triple H. "Hey man."

"You're the new one here, right?" John nodded and Paul extended his hand, followed by Dave. "Well…welcome. Did you get the three cent tour?"

John nodded. "Yeah…I think I'm set."

"You're promoting tonight?" Dave asked.

John shook his head. "Nah, I did that two weeks ago. Tonight's my first match."

"Against who?"

"Brock Lesner," John answered.

Paul chuckled slightly. "Did you piss off Stephanie already?"

John looked at him, confused. "No."

Dave fought back the urge to laugh. "Don't mind him. Stephanie just normally sends out people that got in trouble at Lesner. The man's insane, I swear."

"Who isn't?" John muttered.

As Paul locked his locker, he turned to John. "Just do your best," he said. "Tonight's your first night, so it doesn't really matter if you win or not."

"It doesn't?"

Paul shook his head. "No…you want a reaction from the crowd, whether it's good, or bad."

John nodded as Paul and Dave left the locker room. Pondering the thought, John looked at the television screen inside the room and saw a replaying of Stephanie speaking on. He looked at the screen intently; at Stephanie McMahon. She was certainly interesting.

* * *

Stephanie clicked her alarm button on her Mercedes and walked across the parking lot to the hotel. As she walked up to the entrance of the Hilton, she noticed John waiting by the door; the closer she got, the more he smiled. 

"Hey."

Stephanie stopped and looked at him. John raised an eyebrow, curious as to way she was sizing him up. "John…Cena…right?"

John frowned. "Yeah. You don't remember me?"

Stephanie bit back a smile. _This guy obviously has an ego._ Of course she had remembered him. Not only was he good looking, but his match against Brock Lesner had been impressing. Not only that, but he carried himself well. "I work with a lot of people," Stephanie said. "You have to forgive me."

John's frown was replaced by his smile, which nearly made Stephanie melt. She bit her lip and began to walk into the hotel. John didn't give up that easily though. "So…" he began, following Stephanie in. "How'd you like my match against Lesner?"

Stephanie nodded, trying to ignore the fact that John smelled very good. "It was good."

"_Good_?" John echoed.

Stephanie snorted. "Don't get so cocky there, John."

John laughed and held up his hands. "Okay, okay. But you have to admit…"

Stephanie grinned as she stopped and turned around to look at him. "Yes…it was a good match. I think you have a lot of potential."

"See? That wasn't so hard…"

Stephanie ignored his comment. "However…" John frowned. "Following me to my hotel like this, especially when I don't know you, is not a great start for your career."

John rubbed his chin. "Uh-huh. So what you're saying is…if I _knew_ you and you knew me…then I could follow you?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and walked away from him to the elevators. John smiled and called after her. "Okay well…I love you too!"

John watched as Stephanie flicked him off. Smiling to himself, he turned around to leave, realizing that people in the lobby had been watching them. He casually pointed over his shoulder and smiled. "Yeah…that's my girl." Most rolled their eyes and continued among themselves as John added, "She's got a temper…wouldn't want to mess with her."

Smiling to himself, John left the hotel, making a mental note of the conversation they had and her advice to him. Many wrestlers told him to be cocky…it'll be a great aspect to his character. Well, not him. Not if he could, not only, win over the fans…but Stephanie McMahon as well.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ugh! Idiots!" Stephanie groaned as she closed her phone and slammed it on the desk.

Trish looked up from her magazine and frowned. "What happened?"

Stephanie shook her head and folded her arms on her desk, burying her head in it as she muttered, "I'm so dead."

Trish frowned and casually flipped the page, looking at its contents. "What happened, Steph?"

Popping her head up, Stephanie answered, "Lesner's a no-show tonight."

Trish's eyes widened and she looked at her best friend. "Why? I thought we had that big mixed tag match tonight?!?"

Stephanie nodded her head. "We _did_. See the problem?" Stephanie lowered her head again. "My dad's gonna kill me. He's gonna fire me and kick me to the streets."

Trish rolled her eyes. "He's not going to kick you to the streets," she said. Then she thought about it for a moment before adding. "He might put you in an unfair match in the public in front of millions just to humiliate you..." Stephanie looked at Trish in shock. "But he won't kick you to the streets," she quickly added.

Stephanie shook her head and groaned as they heard a knock on the door. "What?" Stephanie yelled.

The door quickly opened and John stuck his head in. "Uh…is this a bad time?"

Stephanie went back to her laptop. "Yes…go away."

John shot Trish a questioning look, but she only shook her head and signaled for him to come in. He did so, closing the door, but Stephanie completely ignored him, going about her work.

"What can Stephanie do for you, Cena?" Trish asked sweetly.

John looked at Trish, then at Stephanie hoping to get a reaction, and when he got none, he looked back at Trish. "Well…I heard that Brock Lesner was a no show, so I was hoping that maybe I could prove myself some more to…" he turned and looked at Stephanie. "…you."

Stephanie looked up from her computer and at John and saw that he was serious. She sighed and folded her hands, leaning back in her chair. "You're serious?" John nodded and Stephanie shot Trish a questioning look, but she only shrugged. "You're willing to go against Chris Benoit and Torrie Wilson?"

John nodded. "Yeah. Benoit is the real deal. If I beat him, then that's two huge Smackdown superstars, back to back!"

Stephanie shook her head. "I don't have a script."

John waved his hands. "No need. I'm a freestyler and I know Benoit won't have any problem following. I'll make sure we get those fans on their feet."

Stephanie considered the idea for awhile before she finally nodded, sitting up straight. "Alright, I'll let you take Brock's place. You and Trish will team up, so get to know each other. We go live in two hours, so if you want to rehearse, I suggest you do so."

John smiled at her as Stephanie stood up. "Thank you, Stephanie."

"It's Ms. McMahon," Stephanie told him.

Trish giggled as John blushed. "Right…sorry."

"And I'm warning you, Cena," Stephanie continued. "If you fuck this up, even in the slightest…it's your career."

John nodded. "Trust me, boss. You won't be disappointed."

* * *

Trish closed the door behind her as she turned and watched John unpack some of his clothes and place them in the locker. "So," Trish started. "That was a pretty brave thing you did."

"What?"

"Throwing yourself in a match with Chris Benoit? He's a great guy…but gets caught up in the matches a lot."

John nodded. "I figured."

Trish watched him closely and smiled. "You like her, don't you?"

John turned to Trish. "Who?" he asked nonchalantly.

Trish rolled her eyes. "Stephanie." John blushed slightly and cleared his throat as Trish giggled.

"That obvious?"

"Yes, but if I were you, I'd back off."

John frowned. "Why?"

"John…I'm Steph's best friend," she told him. "One, she is our boss; two, you're new. Like it or not. Three, you still have yet to prove yourself to this company and Stephanie especially. Believe it or not, this is a hard job. Yes, it's fun, but people walk out all the time. Brock is an example. Four…have you met her father?"

John chuckled slightly. "Look, thanks for the advice…but I don't give up that easily."

"I'm not telling you to give up, John," she said. "I'm saying to be careful."

* * *

Chris lifted John off the mat and slammed him back into, back first. John's head snapped back and the mat as well. Groaning and hissing in pain, he rolled over on his side and grabbed his head, tucking it under for protection. He heard the roar of the crowd but found that the shock blocked most of it. He felt arms wrap around his waist and pull him back up, just to get hit in the face. As he staggered backwards, he felt a presence behind him. A strong kick in between the legs knocking John to the mat in pain. His vision became blurry as someone began to pound on his back to keep him down. He attempted to get up, only to get kicked in the stomach and brought back down.

In the back, Stephanie was watching the match closely near the curtain with the other crew members. As she was doing so, her father came from office and quickly walked to over to her with a sense of purpose. "Stephanie."

Stephanie groaned inwardly at her father's stern tone. "What Dad?" she asked, her eyes still glued on the monitor, with slight agitation in her voice.

"What's this with Lesner not showing up?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know, he just never came in."

"So you place a _new_ guy with him?" Vince nearly shouted.

Stephanie narrowed her eyes. "_You're_ the one who hired him." Vince rolled his eyes. "Besides, he came to me with the idea."

"Oh, did he?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yes…and because it was last minute and so short notice…I did what I had to do."

"He's getting his ass kicked!" he said, pointing at the monitor.

"Yeah, but the fans are loving it."

Her father blinked a few times before speaking. "Wait…you knew he'd lose?" Stephanie watched the screen, not answering her father, as John was put in the cross face. Vince grinned. "My daughter's a genius!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and finally faced him. "I did what's best for the fans. Putting Cena up against Benoit is blockbuster."

Vince waved his hand. "Steph, you don't have to explain to me. I completely understand. Good job."

Stephanie watched as her father walked away, whistling. As she turned her head back to the match, she saw John tap out, and Chris and Torrie winning the mixed tag match. Shaking her head sadly, she sighed and went back to her office.

* * *

Trish pressed the ice back to John's neck again, but he hissed and grabbed the pack, throwing it in the trash can. Trish watched him do so and sighed. "Are you alright?"

"I blew it," he said softly.

Trish rolled her eyes. "Please. You lasted against Chris for a long time, and you got his respect, which is something difficult."

John shook his head. "Doesn't matter. She said…"

"I know what Stephanie said, John," Trish said. "Just don't worry about that now, okay?"

"But…"

"I'll talk to her," Trish said, cutting him off. "You just go back to your hotel and relax."

* * *

Trish walked into the office and saw Stephanie sitting in her chair, thinking. "Hey."

Stephanie looked up. "Hey."

"Whatcha doin'?"

Stephanie pointed to the computer screen. "Going over Cena and Lesner's contract."

"He did good today, Steph."

Stephanie nodded. "He did great," she said monotone.

Trish frowned. "What's the problem then?"

"The problem is…I just lost Lesner to other national wrestling industry," Stephanie told her. "Now the ratings will fall and if we don't stay in a certain area of ratings, Smackdown will get dropped and we'll lose a lot of money and good talent."

"Steph, don't worry about that…"

"The Board of Directors is on my ass…so how?"

"You need some R&R," Trish told her.

Stephanie snorted. "Like I have time for that."

Trish grabbed Stephanie's hand and forced her to stand up and follow her. "Tell you what, we'll make some time."

Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "Where…?"

"Don't worry, but we'll have some fun."


	3. Chapter 3

Stephanie walked in the arena, her laptop case on her shoulder, with a battle of water in one hand and her cell phone, texting, in the other. John sat on a crate and once he saw Stephanie, he hopped off of it and jogged over to her. Stephanie looked up, and closed her phone, seeing John come up to her. "Hey, Stephanie."

Stephanie looked at him and held up her hand up, still holding her cell phone. "Can you give me two minutes to at least drop my stuff?" she asked, slightly annoyed.

John nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets, letting Stephanie pass him. He watched her walk to the office and open the door as he stood there like a lost puppy. A few minutes later, Stephanie came back out. She noticed John still waiting there for her and rolled her eyes. John caught her doing so and couldn't help but to feel hurt. "Is this a bad time or something?" he asked uncomfortably.

"It's always a bad time," Stephanie replied as she began to walk down the hall.

John followed, unsure of what to do, as he replied, "Well…I just had an idea I wanted to throw at you…"

Stephanie looked at her phone and opened it up, proceeding to read a message. "What is it?"

"Well, I was thinking about this developing my character thing that your father was talking to me about," he told her. "And I have an idea I wanna lay out on the table."

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I'm a rapper, so I was thinking…"

Stephanie stopped and turned around, catching John off balance and nearly running into her. Stephanie chuckled slightly. "Wait," she said, calming herself down. "Don't tell me…you want to do the whole 'gangster' thing?" she said, putting up the parenthesis mark when she said gangster. "A white rapper."

Stephanie shook her head slowly and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache already coming on. "I can't believe who my father hires these days," she muttered.

"Hey," John said, getting on the defensive feeling offended at the comment and Stephanie's body language. "It was just an idea."

Stephanie looked at him. "You already lost one match, John," she told him. "A very important one by the way which I told you rode on your career. That part of your career is the character development part. What that means is…you will do whatever is written in the script. When I get the time, _if_, I get the time…then we'll talk. Until then…" Stephanie pointed behind John. He gave her a look and shook his head, turning around and walking toward the locker rooms.

* * *

Later that night, Trish and Adam walked into Stephanie's office to find her busy and caught up with her work. Seeing how busy, and bitchy, she was, both of them decided to let her be and watched the main event on her television. Despite the fact that Stephanie was walking in and out of the office and on her cell phone, Trish caught her looking at the screen every now and then; probably checking John Cena out in action.

As Stephanie was on the phone with one of the board members, the show came to a closing, and Trish turned to her best friend and said, "That was a pretty good match."

Stephanie looked at her, but said nothing.

"Yeah, it was," Adam commented. "The rapping had me cracking up!" he said laughing.

"What?" Stephanie said into the phone surprised. "No. I never ordered that nor did I sign it."

Adam looked at her as Trish picked up on of the contracts on Stephanie's desk. Glancing at the name, she smirked. Stephanie looked at her and Trish held it up, pointing at John Cena's name at the top. Stephanie rolled her eyes, then listened to other line and said, "Fine. It needs to be run through by my father though. Yes…I'll meet you tomorrow then."

Stephanie closed her phone and sighed heavily. Trish looked up at her as she skimmed through John's contract. "You okay?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah…"

Trish frowned, believing that she was lying, or at least, sugarcoating it.

"You know that's against the law, right?" Adam as Trish.

"What?"

Adam pointed at the contract. "Reading his contract."

Trish waved him off. "Oh, he doesn't care."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Trish rolled her eyes. "I don't like him," she told him. He only smiled at her as Stephanie packed her things up. "Besides," Trish added, putting the contract back. "He's not interested in me."

Adam raised his eyebrows, interested, as Trish stared at Stephanie. When Stephanie turned back and noticed both of them staring at her, she raised her eyebrows. "What?"

Adam chuckled as Trish sang, "Someone's gonna get some…"

Stephanie looked back and forth from them and shook her head as she grabbed her belongings. "You two need a life," she muttered as she walked out, leaving Trish and Adam to continue to laugh.

* * *

John walked out of the shower in his shorts with a towel around his neck as Randy was packing his things. Looking over at him, Randy said, "Hey that was a good match out there."

"Thanks," John said, slipping a shirt on.

Randy zipped up his zipped bag then said, "I saw you hanging around Stephanie earlier."

John stopped and looked at Randy. "Yeah. We were talking."

Randy nodded. "Oh…it just seemed like you got a thing for her," he said as she slung the bag over his shoulder.

John raised his eyebrows. "What if I did?"

"Don't get defensive," Randy said. "I was just noting it. I'm just here to a friend and tell you to watch out."

"Why?"

Randy shrugged. "Steph and I are good friends; I've known her for years. I was there when she became GM; before Smackdown, on Raw, when I was in dark matches. Steph and I are close…"

"And you're just looking out for her," John added. "I can understand that."

"Not just her, you too."

John rolled his eyes. "I know…I'm new."

Randy shook his head. "Not just that, but she just got a divorce."

"Wait," John said, surprised. "She was married?" Randy nodded. "To who?"

"Paul Levesque."

"Wow…" John whispered. "I didn't even now."

Randy chuckled. "If you were around earlier, you would've."

"Their marriage was bad?" John asked.

"Not so much bad as…dysfunctional. But…they ended on good terms and are friends from my understanding. Steph can hold a grudge like it's no one's business…but Paul can't."

"Well…what happened?"

Randy shrugged. "Just wasn't meant to be. Paul met someone else and Stephanie found out about it."

"Wow," John said again.

"Yep." Randy walked over to the door and stopped. "Hey, me and a few buddies are going to get the club later tonight. Trish and Amy are going so I was wondering if you wanted to join."

John nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Randy flashed him a smile and opened the door. "Great. And who knows…maybe Steph will be there."

John nodded and shoved his towel in his bag as Randy left. He suddenly smiled. _I hope that Stephanie is there…

* * *

_

Stephanie sat at the bar and watched as Trish danced on the dance floor with Amy, Adam and Randy. As she finished drinking her wine, she shook her head slowly and wondered why she had let Trish drag her here. She was a divorcee, had no boyfriend, and only money and power…it was depressing.

"You look like you're bored."

Stephanie turned around to the voice. "Paul?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "The one and only, " he joked.

Stephanie giggled and hugged him. Once she broke the hug, he ordered another drink for her and one for himself. Seeing Trish and Adam on the dance floor, Paul asked, "Lemme guess…they forced you here?"

Stephanie shrugged. "In a manner of speaking."

During their marriage, Paul and Stephanie were always hanging out with David and Trish, who were dating at the time. After their divorce ended, Paul wasn't there as much so their group broke up and a new one formed up. A few months after that, Trish broke it off with David. Stephanie missed those old days; where they could come and go as they please, whenever and wherever. Even though Stephanie still talks to Paul and David…they're not as close as they once were.

"Hey baby."

Stephanie watched as Paul turned around and smiled at the woman standing behind him, looking at Stephanie, but smiling friendly. "Hey," Paul said.

Paul turned back and looked at Stephanie as the woman placed her hands on his broad shoulders. "I thought we were going to dance?"

Paul rolled his eyes slightly and gave Stephanie an apologetic look. Stephanie smiled at him. "I'll see you later."

Paul smiled at her and grabbed the woman's hand and led her to the dance floor. Stephanie watched the woman carefully, imagining herself killing her; the very woman that stole her husband. She never imagined that she and Paul would ever have problems. Stephanie was the kind of woman that believed in fairy tales; she'd get married, have many kids, retire, and live in happiness. She wasn't naïve…just imaginative. Her name was Michelle; she started working as Stephanie's assistant in her early years as the General Manager on Smackdown. She and Michelle got along at first…until she laid eyes on Paul. From then on, it was all history. One that Stephanie didn't want to relive.

She opened her purse and pulled out a large bill. Lying it down on the table, under her glass, Stephanie began to get up, only to come face to face with John Cena.

"Hi," he said politely.

Stephanie blushed slightly, not expecting to see him. He was dressed to the nines, and smelled very good. So good, Stephanie wanted to throw herself on him. _He defiantly is hot._ Stephanie mentally slapped herself. _But he is also my employee…that's a red zone._ She'd been there and done that; something she would never do again.

"Hey," she said, smiling at him. Stephanie found herself staring at him, and realizing seconds later that she was still smiling. _Stop smiling, you idiot!_ she scolded herself. John chuckled and shook his head slightly, amused at her reaction and behavior. Stephanie blushed again, turning several shades of red. "I'm not drunk," she told him, "I swear."

"Well…" he began, "I might have to conduct a breathalyzer test. However, there's a problem." Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "I don't have one. So…"

Stephanie shook her head slowly and attempted to cool down the situation. "I know where you're getting at."

"You do?"

She nodded. "Yes." _I have to stop this before it leads to places that it shouldn't. _"John…I'm your boss… and you work for me and my family." The smiled faded from John's face and his expression become unreadable. Stephanie glanced at him. "Do you understand?"

John looked up and nodded. "Yeah," he said simply. He wouldn't admit it, because of who he was, but he was heartbroken, feeling as if Stephanie took a good hard punch in his chest.

"Our relationship is business," Stephanie added. "And that's all it can be."

John nodded again, but didn't say anything. He had come here with Randy in hopes of seeing her; not to get struck down. Stephanie grabbed her coat and turned around and walked out of the bar, John watching her. He was sure of one thing; he wouldn't stop trying. Just because he was slightly youngest and she was his boss, didn't mean anything to him. If it was time that she needed, John would give it to her. He would wait, as long as it took.

But the problem was… people changed over time…


	4. Chapter 4

**4 YEARS LATER…..**

John lifted Adam up and performed his signature move; the F-U. As Adam hit the ground, grunting from the contact, John jumped on his feet and held his arm up, his thumb and pinky extended, as the crowd roared their approval. John looked down at Adam and grabbed his leg, wrapping it around his own, and fell to his knees, putting his arms around Adam's throat. Adam screamed out in pain; even though John wasn't _really_ choking him, they were making it real enough to seem so. In the 'pain' that he was in, Adam hand no choice; he tapped out. As John's music hit, the referee handed him the belt. John raised it high above his head as the crowd continued to cheer loudly. John basked in his glory and lost himself in the cheers as he slowly headed in the back.

As he came in backstage, John grabbed a water bottle and took a sip, slinging the belt on his shoulder, as Randy came over to him, already dressed to leave after the conclusion of his match. "Hey, nice show out there," he said to his best friend.

"Thanks," John replied.

A few minutes later, as John was drying himself off, Adam walked backstage and grabbed a bottle of water as well, and shot daggers at John. "You didn't have to slam me to the mat so damn hard," he whined.

Randy chuckled as John shrugged. "Had to make it seem real."

Adam nodded. "Alright…I'll remember that."

John laughed at him and grabbed the belt, handing it off to one of the crew members. "Alright, I'm gonna take a shower, then I'm out."

"Me too," Adam said.

"I'm leaving now," Randy said, grabbing his stuff. "See ya all tomorrow."

John slapped his forehead. "Oh…we got that stupid ass meeting, don't we?"

Adam nodded. "Yeah…you remember those, right?"

"Probably not," Randy joked. "Since he missed the last three."

"Two of which _you_ were with me," John shot back.

Randy rolled his eyes. "Whatever man," he said walking away.

---

The next day, John parked his truck and walked into the Titan Towers, dreading the meeting. Normally, they were time-consuming and boring. The only good and meaningful meetings they ever had were those just before the kick off of the show. Once he stepped off the elevators, he made his way to the conference room, and walked in, seeing mostly everyone else from Raw, already seated, and waiting. John made his way into the room and greeted everyone, and sat in between Trish and Randy. He leaned back in the chair, making sure that he was comfortable. As Vince entered the room with his son, Shane, the sidebar conversations died down, as their boss cleared his throat.

"Alright," he began. "This meeting, as I know John already can't stand," he said looking at Cena, "Won't be long." John was quietly cheering in his mind. "I have a flight to catch in an hour, so this'll be brief. As you all know, Eric is leaving the WWE for a while, and taking a well deserved break." Everyone nodded. "Normally I would take over Raw, as I have been, until I appoint a new GM with much consideration, but, because my time is short because of a few business trips that I have to make with Linda, I had to make a quick decision. So," he continued. "I have hand picked a transit GM and someone that will be taking my place and running things, particularly on Raw, while I am psychically absent."

"Who is it?" Paul asked.

"The GM?"

"Both."

"Well, the General Manager is a surprise," Vince said. "And the person that will be taking my place for the time being will be my daughter."

John's eyes widened and he sat up straight unsure if he heard correctly.

"Wait," Randy spoke up. "I thought she left?"

"She did," Shane said. "And now she's back."

Randy frowned and clutched his fists, wanted to knock the arrogance out of Shane. But Trish grabbed his hand and calmed him.

"So, she's running things then?" Carlos asked.

Vince nodded. "Yes. The GM is in the storyline, but it's Stephanie that you will have to answer too. Now, she's doing this as a favor to me. _This_ and the storylines. She'll be running Raw and the creative team. I know how you all get on the trips and flying to and from… but I won't be gone that long and I expect better of you all in my absence."

"We will," Trish promised.

Gwen rolled his eyes and mouthed, _Kiss ass_, to her. Trish responded by giving him the finger.

Vince watched them and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, just what I mean," he muttered under his breath as he walked out.

---

Stephanie stood at the curtain and went over her notes on her clipboard and the schedule for that night. In the ring was Paul and Ric Flair; even though her father spend a lot of time and promotion on the two wrestlers and their storyline (especially), Stephanie found no profit in it. As she wrote out the matches for next Monday night, she heard someone down the hall, a voice that was all too familiar to her. She turned around and rolled her eyes as she saw the male approaching her, a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Stephy!"

Stephanie smiled sweetly. "Christopher Irvine."

Chris chuckled and hugged her tightly as Stephanie rubbed his back and said, "I missed you."

"Missed you too, princess."

"How's the family?" she asked as they broke apart.

"Great," Chris beamed. "Kayla's two already."

"Wow! I remember when she was just starting to walk."

Chris nodded. "Yeah, she's getting big. How's your family?"

"Crazy, as usual."

"Running the big show now, huh?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and went back to her schedule. "Shut up."

"Told you Raw was better," Chris sang. "I always told you that."

Stephanie shook her head and flipped through a few papers and gave the clipboard to Chris. "Sign on the highlighted part."

Chris took the clipboard and her pen and sighed where he was told. "Am I signing my life away again?" he joked.

Stephanie watched him sign and took the clipboard back, then signed herself. "Yep. I now control you."

"When haven't you?" Chris laughed.

"Alright," Stephanie began, switching back to business mode. "You know what to do tonight, right?" Chris nodded. "And next week?" Chris nodded again.

"You know, I have worked in this company before…"

"I know, but this is a different ball game now with different players."

Chris rolled his eyes and jumped on a crate to sit down. "Yeah, but I'm the pro."

Stephanie rolled her eyes again as her radio crackled. A voice came over it to announce the commercial break, as Paul came backstage. "Chris," he greeted, shaking hands with the man.

"What up, Trips?"

"Not much," Paul replied. "I didn't know you were back."

Chris nodded. "Yep, until Stephanie decides that she no longer needs my services." Paul glanced at Stephanie and she shot Chris a look. "Okay…that sounded much better in my head."

Paul laughed and patted Chris on the shoulder. "Well, regardless, it's good seeing ya."

"You too."

Stephanie and Chris watched as he left towards the lockers. Chris laughed quietly as Stephanie grinned, shaking her head, and pulled her radio out, calling the crew to take an extended commercial break, as they were waiting for the next wrestlers to come to the curtain.

"Who's on next?" Chris asked.

"Eddie and John."

Chris looked at her and frowned. "Who's Eddie?"

"Oh, um, Umaga. Umaga and Cena."

"Oh."

Eddie made his way from the lockers and introduced himself to Chris as Stephanie briefed him on the small changes that were made. Stephanie took out her radio again and asked, "We ready?"

A few seconds later, it beeped, and a man said, "Yeah boss. We're live in one minute."

Stephanie clipped the radio back to her belt and Chris smiled at her. Stephanie haven't changed that much; although he had seen her just last month, it wasn't business related. Despite the fact that their on screen characters hated each other's guts, Chris and Stephanie were very close. He was surprised when Stephanie chose to leave Smackdown and the company and pursue her college again. He thought for sure that she'd go crazy, being at one place and not so extremely busy, but she didn't. For three years she was content with her new life, up until the company switched back to their old network; then she began to get stir crazy.

Chris himself had left the company only two years after she had, pursuing his music career and doing the interviews and auditions. His three biggest fans were his wife, mother and Stephanie. Having two kids kept Chris busy and when he couldn't be there, from being overseas, Stephanie was. That was one reason why his wife and Stephanie were such good friends.

Watching Stephanie now, back in working environment, reminded Chris of the old times. The only difference now was that they were older, both in higher positions (at least on paper for him), older, though they didn't look it. Chris's hair stayed short, which Stephanie said she always like better, and Stephanie's hair was still brown, only longer and shiner.

"So…when do we come out?" Chris asked her.

Stephanie continued to write out the schedule as she spoke. "Just as John will go to cover Eddie, Mike will get to two just as my music hits. I'll go out, blah, blah, blah. Then your cue will be 'Chris Jericho'."

Chris grinned. "Sounds easy…and exciting."

"Live in thirty seconds," her radio crackled.

"Alright, let's get going," she said while slipping on her headphones as John jogged up to the gorilla curtain, his belt around his waist.

Chris raised his eyebrows. "Cutting it a little close there, Champ?"

John shrugged as he buckled the belt. "I'm here now."

Chris looked at Stephanie, but she wasn't paying an attention. He noted though how John seemed to avoid Stephanie as he walked up to the curtain as Eddie walked out when his cue came on. "Remember the script, Junior!" Chris called out to him.

Stephanie looked up from her papers and looked from Chris to John as John turned around and gave Chris the, 'Shut the fuck up look.' Chris grinned and popped his gum as John's cue came on. Stephanie looked back at Chris, once John left, and asked, "What was that about?"

Chris shrugged. "Guy seemed to be a jackass to me."

Stephanie shook her head. "You don't even know him."

He titled his head and looked at his best friend. "And you do?"

"I worked with him briefly on Smackdown," she replied.

Chris nodded, chewing his gum loudly. "And I assume that you think you're the shit because a Smackdown star is now a Raw Champion?"

Stephanie glared at Chris. "First of all, no, I do not think that. Secondly, we only worked briefly. Why are you making it sound like I have a crush on him? A third, stop chewing that gum so loudly before I slap it outta you." Chris stopped chewing loudly but laughed. She narrowed her eyes at him, but said nothing more.

About twenty minutes later, Stephanie unhooked her radio from her belt, put her clip board and headphones down, and straighten her outfit and hair out as the crew members signaled for her to come out. She nodded, as she walked toward the curtain, Chris giving her a thumbs up and wearing a cheesy grin that reminded her of little kids getting so excited whenever the ice cream rolled around the corner.

Out in the ring, John nailed the F-U on Eddie, and dropped to his knees, pinning him. Mike slid on his stomach and brought his hand down to hit the mat. "One! … Two! …"

Just as his hand was coming down for a third count, Stephanie's music and images on the titantron came up. People rose to their feet, confused, and excited, as Mike turned around and John rose to his knees. As Stephanie walked down the ramp, she felt the excitement and some confusion from the crowd. Amazingly, the arena was filled with cheers directed towards her. Stephanie smiled and danced in it; it had been a long time since she was ever cheered. As she stepped into the ring, John stood up and watched her, as Eddie and Mike rolled out of the ring. As she grabbed the microphone, she caught John staring at her. She noted how nervous he seemed, but shrugged it off as him trying to play out the scene better. She brought the microphone up as her music faded out and the fans quieted down some.

Looking around the ring, she said, "Well…I guess I have to work on my timing." John shook his head and rubbed his neck, looking around at the crowd as few laughed. "I'll work on that," she added. "However, I _did_ come out here for a reason. I very important one at that. I realize that Smackdown has Teddy Long as a GM, and ECW has Paul Heyman." She shook her head, hating to say the latter name as she waited until some cheers died down again. "But Raw has no one. I won't even acknowledge Coach for the plain and simple fact that he sucks." Stephanie smirked. It was one of her, 'Ha-ha, you suck, I'm the Billion Dollar Princess and I'm so funny,' smirks. Her, 'bitch' smirks. But no one, save for herself and most of the WWE staff and personal, knew what happened to Eric Bischoff. While on television, John threw him in a dump truck because he took advantage of his power, Eric took personal time off, first to check out ECW, and then retired from the Wrestling business. Last Stephanie heard; he was writing a book. Even though their characters loathed and despised each other, she and Eric got along fairly well. She particularly enjoyed her earlier Smackdown moments when she and Eric literally went head to head with each other. That kiss on Halloween, couldn't have been played any better if it were fake. That's how comfortable they were with each other and their work together.

As Stephanie was pacing the ring, and the crowd was cheering, he watched as she smiled and lowered the microphone, giving the fans a chance to scream their heads off. John was just amazed by her; how much she had changed in the four years, while still staying the same. Her radiant blue eyes captured him and needless to say, if he didn't think of something to take his mind off of her, he'd do something in front of a live audience and get fired for it. The night, four years ago, as John was doing promos and going up against one of Stephanie's oldest friends, Mark, the Undertaker, he remembered the last minute air time that Vince McMahon gave him, since one of the live segments had a set back. He had played the whole thing out, showing Stephanie that he could freestyle and get the fans into it. He just never expected her to actually go along with it. In fact, he was expected to get yelled at or slapped because of it. He actually slapped her ass! And it was real; nothing about it was fake, and she let him. It was one of John's greatest moments; he just hoped that someday that ass would be his.

As Stephanie spoke again, he was brought of his trance and began pacing, to get the feeling back into his legs. She ignored him and turned to the fans, where she knew the cameras were. "Since my father is doing business overseas right now, and technically no one is running Raw, it's been left up to me to make sure that things go more…smoothly, here on Raw. Therefore…I have hand picked Raw's new general manager." When Stephanie turned around, she saw John, with his title belt over his shoulder, simply leaning against the post. "Let me introduce to you all, Raw's new general manager…Chris Jericho!"

As a good majority of the fans rose to their feet and screamed with joy and surprise, John pulled off his bit and looked at Stephanie with a shocked expression then watched as Chris came walking out, cocky, as always. John wasn't the biggest fans of Chris; he always thought he could do better and the creative team was holding him back. He respected what he had done for the company in the past, John being a wrestling fan and all; but Chris Irvine always could do better.

Stephanie smiled, and clapped, as Chris entered, ignoring John, who was still in a state of shock. Chris lifted Stephanie's hand and kissed it, and Stephanie blushed, as he took the microphone from her. In the corner, John frowned. Chris lifted up his hand and the fans quieted. "I only have to say one thing," he said in the mic. "And that is…now that Y2J is running the show; things will never…evvvvveeerrrrr…be the same!"

Stephanie smiled and clapped her hands in approval. The fans cheered and screaming, forgetting about the unfinished match. Stephanie knew one thing; Chris was right…

Thing _never_ would be the same anymore.

No one knew it yet, though…


	5. Chapter 5

Chris looked around his office and smiled. _Oh yeah, a guy could get used to this…_ He smiled smugly and walked around towards the rear of the desk and sat down in the chair, leaning back. As he did so, the chair titled back and panicking, Chris grabbed the desk and brought himself and the chair back up.

"I see you're having a good time," Stephanie chuckled.

Chris gave her a sarcastic laugh and glanced at her as she was leaning against the door frame, dressed in a nice blouse, jeans and sneakers. With her long hair down and shining, she never looked so beautiful. "You have impeccable timing," he sneered.

Stephanie flashed him a smile and walked into the office, sitting on the couch. Glancing around, she nodded her approval. "Pretty cozy."

Chris smiled. "Well thanks." Stephanie giggled and shook her head. "You really like it?"

Stephanie nodded as she messed around with her palm pilot. "Yeah." Chris leaned back and placed his feet on the desk. Stephanie looked up at him. "You might not want to do that though."

"Why?"

Just as Chris asked, he leaned back ever so slightly, and the chair fell backwards. This is, he had no time to react, and fell with it. Stephanie rolled her eyes and went back to her business. "That's why."

----

Chris Irvine. That's all John had been hearing all week. Chris Jericho aka Irvine was back. What about him? He was the champ; _he_ should've been the talk of the town. Not ' should've been the talk of the town. Not 'Y2J'. What kind of nickname was that anyways? John shook his head and sighed as he opened the locker door. Seeing that it was empty, he threw his stuff in a locker and jumped into the shower. _Were the rumors about Stephanie and Chris true also?_ From seeing them together at last week's show, and her practically drooling over his appearance, John believed there was…or possible, still is. He had waited four years for her. Of course he had moved on with his life in few aspects, such as dating…but to him it was nothing special. He was the WWE champion and a recording artist as well as a rising movie star. John had it all, so what chick wouldn't dig him? _Stephanie McMahon._ She hadn't said one word to him. Nothing. Not, how are you? Great to see you again. My god, you are so hot. Or, you've done great for this company. Maybe I've been a little wrong about you in the past. He thought they had a connection back when he was on Smackdown. Then one day, she just left… Vince tried to cut it into a storyline, but even before when Stephanie wasn't on television live, she was at least backstage, yelling at someone. For months, it wasn't even that. It was at that time that John heard rumors. She was burned out; she quit; she was fired; she was getting married; she was very ill.

John got out of the shower and dried himself off quickly and changed. As he was putting on his sneakers, the door to the locker room opened and Randy stepped in. "Hey man."

"Hey."

Randy tossed his stuff in a locker as well and grabbed a towel from the shelf. He frowned as he noticed that John wasn't in his ring attire; just his shirt and jeans. "Going somewhere?"

John grabbed his wallet and phone. "I'm not scheduled till later on," he said. "I thought I'd just go walk around."

Randy nodded. "I see. Looking to bump into Steph, huh?"

John closed the locker. "What makes you say that?"

Randy grinned at him. "The cologne you're wearing."

John rolled his eyes. "You're an ass." Randy laughed as John closed the door behind him. _He is so whipped…_

-------

Stephanie twirled her pen in her hand and watched as the crew set up the ring. She leaned back and sighed, deeply bored, as she sat in the stands. She couldn't think straight and it was annoying her. "You look like you've been hit by a semi and you're dragging your bloody body around like a mindless zombie."

Stephanie looked up at Amy and rolled her eyes. "You need to stop watching that horror shit."

Amy laughed and sat down next to Stephanie. "But really…you do look bored. And a little out of it."

"I am," Stephanie admitted. "I should be happy to be back, you know?"

Her friend frowned. "You're not?" Stephanie shook her head. "Wait a minute," Amy said, holding up her hand. "You mean to tell me that Stephanie McMahon; _the_ Stephanie McMahon is _bored_ working in the WWE?"

Stephanie nodded sadly. "Yeah."

"Unbelievable."

Stephanie shrugged. "I think I just need time."

"I agree," Amy said nodding. "I mean, you just came back last week. You need your time to readjust."

"I hope so," Stephanie said.

Amy watched the men setting up and saw John walking down towards the ring with Randy trailing behind him. "Oh, look who it is."

Stephanie saw both men and frowned, looking at Amy. "I thought you and Adam were going out?"

Amy shrugged. "So?"

Stephanie pointed at the two wrestlers as they entered the ring. "So why did you say it like that?"

"Haven't you heard?" Amy asked. Stephanie looked at her blankly. "John's got the biggest crush on you."

This time, it was Stephanie that laughed. "Okay."

Amy frowned. "I'm serious!"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Sure."

"Steph!"

"Amy, I haven't seen him since Smackdown!" she protested. "There's no way he even remotely thinks about me. Besides…I'm his boss."

Amy rolled her eyes and stood up. "Okay, whatever. But just watch him. Then you'll see."

Stephanie shook her head and watched Amy walk down the aisle and back into the backstage area. Suddenly, an idea hit her, and Stephanie began writing quickly.

---------

John saw Stephanie the second he stepped onto the ramp. Even more, he knew that she was out there already because he tried looking all over the building for her. She wasn't sitting far away, bit she wasn't too close either. But still, John found himself nervous; as if she was watching his every move and the girls were talking about him. As he walked into the center of the ring, he looked out and saw Amy leaving Stephanie alone, and then she began to write several things down, getting distracted and forgetting that he was there. Or so he thought.

"You alright man?" Randy asked.

John nodded and took off his shirt, throwing it outside the ring. "Yeah," he said, still distracted and watching Stephanie. Randy followed his gaze and snickered. "What?" John said defensively.

Randy shook his head and began to pace around him. "Nothing."

John frowned and began to move every other step so he wasn't caught off guard. "That wasn't 'nothing'."

"Dude, why don't you just ask her out," he said to John. "She's still single."

"It's only been a week."

"A week and four years for you," Randy laughed.

John scowled and went after him, locking in a headlock and taking him down to his knees. "Take it back," he grunted as he applied pressure.

Randy grabbed John's arm trying to get him to loosen the pressure, but to no avail. "No," he choked out. Behind down even further, Randy used his back muscles and lifted John up, over his head, and hit the floor. John, too stunned to move, couldn't stop Randy as he pinned him to the ground, locking in an arm bar. "You are such a pussy, you know that?"

John grunted as he twisted his body and maneuvered out of the move. Both men rose to their feet and John came in with a punch. Randy, his eyes wide, saw it coming and ducked, taking John out from his legs and getting him on the floor again. "I'm not the one that sleeps with a different girl every week." John lifted his legs up and around Randy and trusted him forward. Randy, caught by surprise, hit his head on the ring poll. Holding his forehead, he released John slightly and he took advantage, rolling out from under Randy and pinning him. Acting on instinct, Randy kicked out and scrambled to his feet.

"Aw, man, am I bleeding?" Randy whined, wiping his forehead.

John laughed. "Who's the pussy now?"

Randy glared at John, and then lunged for him. Jumping in the air, grabbing John's neck in the process, he tried to perform his RKO, but John grabbed the small of his back and threw him forward so Randy landed painfully on his back. John wasted no time and grabbed his hair and pulled him up, thrusting him on his shoulders, setting up for the F-U. But Randy fought back and hit John hard in the middle of his back. John cried out from the impact and let go of Randy. He landed on his feet and wrapped his arms around John's waist and lifted him up over him, landing a perfect suplex. Both men lied on the mat, panting, out of breath and worn down.

As John was about to say something to Randy, he heard heels click against the floor. Both men turned and saw Stephanie glaring at them, although there was some amusement to their show in her eyes. "Are you two done?" Unable to speak, Randy nodded. "Good. Go shower up before I put you two to work."

John sat up as she walked away and up the ramp, heading towards the back. Turning around, she called out, "And you two better put on a good show tonight since you decided to waste all your energy!"

Randy chuckled as Stephanie disappeared. John smirked. If she wanted a good show…she was going to get it.

-----

"Where are we going to get that much spray paint?" Michael asked.

Paul shrugged. "I dunno. Wal-Mart?"

Michael pretended to laugh. "Funny."

Paul chuckled and shook his head. "I don't know."

"Well, at least we have a few months."

Paul nodded. "True, but I wouldn't mind doing that storyline now."

"Same here, bro."

"Ugh! For the last time, leave me alone!"

Paul and Michael glanced over to where Chris was coming from, being followed by Mickie James. "But I'm your biggest fan, Jericho!"

Paul chuckled, seeing Chris's face turn red, as if he was about to pull out his hair._ Good thing he cut it._ "For the last time…the name is Irvine!"

Paul and Michael started laughing and Chris glared at them. "Shut up!"

"Welcome back, Chris!" Michael said to him.

"Fuck you, Shawn," Chris muttered as he walked past them.

Both Michael and Paul high-fived each other as Mickie watched them, clueless.

------

John closed the locker and grabbed his belt as he turned to leave the room. Just as he was about to open it, Rob Van Dam stepped inside, and glared at him. John just stared at him back.

"Yo, dude, why don't you move outta my way?"

John backed up as Rob placed his two fingers in his broad chest and pushed him. John glared at him, but said nothing as Rob walked over to his locker. Instead, he just watched him, and then silently left.

As he walked down the hallway, he looked out for Stephanie. He didn't know too much about Rob, but he knew about professionalism. Once he spotted her, by the gorilla, he quickly walked up to her. Stephanie finished her conversation with the camera man as John walked up to her. "John, what are you doing here? You're not on for another hour."

"I know, I just wanted to discuss something with you."Stephanie raised an eyebrow, thinking of what Amy had told her early. _He's not that bad looking… _"Yeah. This, Rob Van Dam guy?" Stephanie nodded, immediately knowing where it was heading. "I got a bad vibe from him. I mean, what's his problem?"

Stephanie sighed and ran her hand through her hair, feeling a headache coming on. "Did he physically touch you?"

"Yeah."

"Did you knock him out?"

John shook his head. "No."

Stephanie sighed in relief. "Okay, good. Look, the bad thing about timing right now is that you're going to have to deal with him. You two are involved in a storyline that starts tonight."

"When did he come back to Raw?" John demanded.

"He's not on Raw," Stephanie replied. "He's on ECW. We're trying an inter-promotional thing right now."

John raised his eyebrows. "How so?"

Stephanie looked at him, dumbfounded. "Do you ever read the scripts? Or the internet."

"Your father made me shut down Myspace."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because I don't have the time to surf the net," he said.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, if you start that, 'I'm the Champion, holeyer than thou crap', I'm going to slap you."

John gave her a smirk. "Well…"Stephanie rolled her eyes again and walked away. John chuckled. "Wait." He grabbed her arm and smiled at her. "I was just trying to lighten the mood," he told her. Stephanie frowned but found that she couldn't turn away. His smile was just so…entrancing.

"Look," she relented. "There's not much I can do right now other then cut down the time. We all have to sacrifice something in our lives, personal and professional, at some point."

John frowned. "And what do I have to sacrifice? "Stephanie pointed to this title belt. John followed her gaze and shook his head. "Your kidding me!"

Stephanie shook her head slowly. "The Board of Directors wants to see something different. That means you losing the title."

"You couldn't find a way around it?"

"No, I tried. We did a poll on the website."

John's eyes widened. "The fans voted against me?"

Stephanie shrugged. "RVD is back and he's old school ECW. John…you'll have to go into uncharted territory. I've only ran ECW for a little while when I was younger. With that monster, Heyman, running it and RVD, the fan's favorite, you won't be cheered as much as you're used too." John shook his head, disappointed. "Ask Paul, John. You're not the only champ to go through this. You can ask Chris, Randy, Michael and Paul…they'll all tell you the same thing. Hell, even ask Adam."

"But…you can cut down the storyline?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yes. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

Stephanie turned around and headed towards her office, letting everything she said sink into John's head. As she walked away, she rolled her eyes. _What a fucking baby… It's a belt…jeez_


	6. Chapter 6

"I don't think she likes me."

"Who?"

"Stephanie."

"Oh."

"Do you think that?"

"What?"

"That she hates me?"

"She doesn't hate you."

"Well, she sure doesn't like me."

"Jesus, John, it's just a storyline. We all gotta do shit we don't want to. Just 'cuz Steph handed you the paper, doesn't mean that she was laughing behind scenes as you got your ass kicked."

"Hey! It was an unfair fight!"

Randy laughed on the other end of the phone. "I know it was…but it was a little funny."

John frowned. "Me getting my ass kicked and booed at? Jeez, thanks."

"Hey man, like I said, sometimes our job sucks."

John shook his head. "I really don't want to work tonight."

"Well, you want to hear a rumor I heard?" Randy asked.

"What?"

"ECW won't be holding onto the title."

"Really?" John asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, supposedly, Rob mouthed off to Stephanie at the end of the taping and pissed her off. She switched a few things around and paid a wrestler extra to steal the title back."

John's eyebrows rose. "Wow."

Randy chuckled. "I know. _Not_ the woman to piss off. But…that's the rumor."

"I wonder who it is."

"Well, I'm assuming that whoever it is, you'll get into a storyline with. I mean…it makes sense."

"Yeah. Well…"

"Am I gonna have to cover your ass tonight?"

John shook his head. "I dunno. After hearing that, I think it's best that I do go in, especially because I have a promo."

"That'a boy."

John rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

Randy laughed. "Alright, see ya there then man."

"Yeah." John closed his phone and picked up his duffle bag and grabbed the hotel's room key. As he zipped up the bag, someone knocked on his door. "Yo!" he called out. The person kept banging on the door and John turned around. "What?"

The banging continued and John became frustrated. Unlocking the door and throwing it back impatiently, John came face to face with Rob Van Dam. Rob smirked as John looked at him in surprise. "Still sore?"

John glared at him. "What're you doing here?"

Rob held up the WWE title and pointed to his name on the plate. "Nothing, just wanted to see how you're doing. Think it looks good on me?" he asked as he slinged it on his shoulder.

John's jaw tightened and his eyes met Rob's. "Better hold on to that for as long as you have it."

"Oh don't worry, dude. I'm gonna have it for a long time."

"Keep thinking that."

"Look dude, I know that ECW and myself whipped your ass. I came here to tell you, just let the title go, and you might save your career for another year or two."

"Fuck you," John spat. "The title is mine."

"Wrong," Rob snapped. "It's Raw's, and that brand doesn't even deserve it. Since ECW is back, I'm gonna make it number one and phase Smackdown and Raw out."

John shook his head and laughed softly. "That's never going to happen. The McMahon's will never accept that. That's why it's called a brand extension."

"That's what you think, _Cena_," Rob sneered. "With myself, these titles, and Paul's brilliant mind…we're going to take WWE and it's fans by storm."

Smirking at him arrogantly, Rob walked away from John's hotel room. John watched him disappear and thought about the warning. _Paul…Paul…which Paul?_ he thought. Only three names came to mind, but he knew one thing; he needed to talk to Stephanie.

----------

"Sabotage."

Trish frowned and gave Amy a confused look. "What?"

"Sabotage. What's another word for it?"

Trish shrugged. "I don't know. Disrupt?"

Amy thought for a moment and nodded. "Huh."

Trish looked back at her magazine, then put it down and looked back at her friend. "Why'd you ask me that?"

Amy shrugged. "Dunno. Something John was mumbling earlier."

Trish raised her eyebrow. "Who?"

"Cena."

"Why was he mumbling something about Sabotage?"

"How should I know?" Amy asked, shrugging. "He hasn't said anything to me."

Trish rolled her eyes. "You're such a nut."

Amy shot Trish a look. "_I'm_ the nut?" Trish nodded, going back to her magazine, and smiling. They looked up as they heard someone knocking on the locker door. "Who is it?"

"Chris."

"Come in."

Chris opened the door and locked it. Pressing his back against it, he was met by Trish and Amy giving him looks. "That girl won't leave me alone."

"Mickie?" Amy snickered. Chris nodded. "Do you honestly think that hiding in the women's locker room is the best hiding place?"

Thinking for moment, Chris sighed and Trish laughed. "Look, I just need to stay away from her. She's fucking annoying."

Amy chuckled. "Don't worry; she's always been like that."

"A psycho?"

Trish nodded. "Well, that was her nickname here…"

Chris's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Amy waved her off. "No, Chris. She does that all time, with everyone. Once she gets used to you, then it'll be fine. She just gets overexcited. That's how she developed the character."

Chris sighed in relief and walked over and sat down next to them. "That's good because I needed to talk to you anyways."

"What about?" Trish asked.

"Well, since you two _are_ my favorite females in the whole wide world, Stephanie included," he said. "I want two hot divas, like yourselves, to be Y2J's go to girls."

Trish dropped the magazine in her lap and glared at Trish. "You want us to be your whores?"

Chris shook his head. "No. My slaves, more or less." Trish and Amy both exchanged looks. "Just for the storyline!" he quickly added. "Please."

Amy shook her head. "I dunno…"

"Come on," he begged, "it'll be fun. Like old times."

"Only except Amy is getting married?" Trish said.

Chris shook his head. "True, but if I asked you just because you were single…"

"Alright, shut up," Trish snapped. "I'll do it."

Amy sighed. "Me too."

Chris grinned at both of them. "Thank you guys. You regret it."

"Somehow, I think we will," Trish mumbled.

------

Stephanie went through the papers on her desk and sighed deeply. She could feel a headache coming on again; and today of all days. Deciding whether or not she was going to stop and finish her work tomorrow, her cell phone rang. Groaning, she reached for it and looked at the number. Not recognizing it, she flipped it open and pressed it to her ear. "Stephanie McMahon."

"Steph…it's John."

Stephanie frowned. "I know a lot of Johns'."

"Cena," he said, slightly annoyed.

"Oh, what can I do for you?"

"Listen, I heard something and I thought you should know."

"Okay."

"So you think you could meet me somewhere?"

Stephanie frowned. "Um, I guess. But the show is in five hours…"

"It's important."

Sensing the urgency in his voice, Stephanie agreed. "Okay. Just tell me where."

-----------

It was a nice diner. Not a place that Stephanie herself would pick, but it was descent. As she opened the door, she saw John sitting in the far corner booth wearing a black shirt and baseball cap. It was fine to her because she was wearing a nice blouse with jeans and sneakers. _Talk about being lazy today._ Stephanie walked over to him and sat directly across from him. He gave her a warm smile and she returned it, placing her purse to the left of her.

"Do you want anything?" John asked her.

"Iced tea is fine." John called the waiter over and ordered what she wanted. Once they got it, he cleared his throat. Before he said anything, she held up her hand and said, "If this is about you losing the title… I don't want to hear it. It was already decided and you received the script, so you knew it was going to happen."

John frowned. "No, it's not about that and I got that script last minute," he argued. "So if I didn't agree with it, there wasn't a damn thing I could've done about it."

Stephanie nodded, thinking it over. "True. So…what's this about?"

John sighed. "Rob came to my hotel room this morning."

Stephanie brows furrowed. "For what?"

"Just a bunch of trash talking but some things he said, he let slip," John explained. "And they raised some flags off."

"Like what?"

"For one, he doesn't like Raw or Smackdown," he told her. "Then he said something about Paul and his 'brilliant mind', but I don't know which Paul he's talking about."

Stephanie frowned. "Well, the only Paul's we have is Levesque, Show, and…"

Stephanie stopped and John saw the look in her eyes. "What?"

"Heyman," she said slowly.

"Heyman?" Stephanie nodded. "Why would Heyman…?"

"Because my father hired him on ECW."

John's eyes widened. "Why would he do that?!?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know!"

John hit his fist, though not that hard, on the table and leaned back. He never liked Paul Heyman. During his reign as the United States Champion was when Paul Heyman introduced himself to John. There was obvious dislike on both ends. He never forgave Stephanie for leaving her position and never forgave Vince for hiring him. It took a psychical attack to get rid of the man; history that John wouldn't mind repeating. "Well, if he really is planning on taking over WWE, what're we gonna do?"

Stephanie sighed. "I can't believe this. This is the shit that we write in storylines, for the fans entertainment. It doesn't _actually_ happen!" John watched as she went through a panic attack. "He's doing this because he knows my father isn't here. He thinks that we're weak."

"Don't you have something planned to get our title back though?" John asked.

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know if it'll work."

"Well, if it doesn't," he said, "you have a whole locker room, two of them, that wouldn't mind teaching people like Van Dam a lesson or two."

"Yes, but it's going against the fans," she told him. "The fans make up WWE and many of them are hardcore ECW fans. I can't very well discard them."

"Then don't," John said. "Just get rid of Van Dam and Heyman, and any other traitors."

Stephanie nodded, taking all of it in. _Something _big_ was going to happen. _However; Stephanie didn't realize that that _something_ would take place in her personal life, and not just professional.


	7. Chapter 7

"Raw, 15,231, ECW, 14,224, Smackdown, 12,572…shit," Stephanie muttered. Looking through her small stack of papers, she sighed and took off her glasses, picking up her cell phone and dialing a familiar number. "Yeah, hey Teddy, it's Steph. I'm good, thanks. Listen, I have a small favor to ask of you. I was looking over the ratings from last week and…they're not good. No. At all." Stephanie nodded slowly as she listened to him. "Yes. Well…I have something important to tell you, something that I just recently found out and I have an idea on how to fix it…"

* * *

"So this ECW thing is for real?" Adam asked.

John nodded. "Yep. Once Heyman's name was mentioned, she took it pretty serious."

"It's probably more than that," Randy replied.

John frowned. "What're you talking about, bro?"

Randy shrugged. "Well, it's personal for her. Heyman has always overshadowed her in everything she's done and Vince just keeps bringing him back again."

"Why?"

"Dunno. All I know is that they had a falling out back in '01. Since then, they've been gunning for the other. Every time they're around each other, Steph is different. It's like feeding into their egos."

"That bad?"

Randy nodded and before he could say anything further, they heard Stephanie calling John from behind them. Stopping, John turned to see her scurrying over to them. "John."

He gave her his charming smile. "What's up, Steph?"

But Stephanie didn't notice. "Listen, you still in touch with Dave?"

"Bautista?" Stephanie nodded. "Uh, yeah…I guess."

Stephanie closed her eyes. "Don't guess, John. I need to know."

"Um, yeah."

"Good, you need to call him tonight and tell him that his ass needs to be here in the next five hours."

"Whoa, what?"

Stephanie glared at him. "Did I stutter?"

"No, but why can't you do it?"

"Because I have something else that I need to take care of," she snapped. Spinning on her heels, Stephanie turned and marched away, with John watching her, still in state of shock.

Adam came up from behind him and placed his hand on John's left shoulder. "Yep…defiantly personal."

* * *

"What do you mean Heyman wants to take over?!?" Vince shouted over the phone. "That's impossible! It's unacceptable! It's…"

Stephanie sat at the desk, staring at the speaker phone, while Trish sat on the couch, listening. "I know, Dad!" Stephanie snapped. "He's taking advantage because you're not here."

"Well, what are you doing about it?"

"I'm taking care of it! Why are you turning this on me?"

"I'm not _turning_ anything on you," Vince snapped. "I'm simply asking a question…"

"One that I answered," Stephanie replied, cutting him off, "so move on."

She heard Vince sigh over the phone. "Okay, unfortunately, I cannot get a flight back this short of notice," he told his daughter. "There's a huge storm or something. Fucking mother nature and her timing," he mumbled angrily.

Trish couldn't help but to chuckle, receiving a glare from her best friend. "Look, I just found out that ECW is tying their independent funds to the TNA network and plotting to break away from WWE and take the title." Vince remained silent. "They already have a number of our people on their list." Stephanie sighed. "Dad, if they get them, it could be a huge shift in fans and sponsorship. They've already topped Smackdown and are coming in hard and fast on Raw."

"What about interpromtional?" Vince asked. "All three brands against each other to throw off the fans?"

"It's a good idea, but it gives ECW and Heyman the chance to scope out Raw and take out our wrestlers."

"Do we have nothing we can use against them?" Vince asked, hopeful.

"Well," Stephanie began. "I did call in some pretty desperate back up."

Stephanie could imagine her father frowning deeply. "What kind of back up?" he asked carefully.

* * *

The kind of back up that you'll regret further down the line. John couldn't believe it; couldn't believe how far Stephanie wanted to go. But then again, when you want to win, you pick a winning team. And she did a damn good job. John against Paul, aka, Big Show…they've done it before, just as John was making his mark on the map, and the two got along. He was surprised when Stephanie told him that Heyman bought him out. John knew Paul's capabilities in the ring; all this was was a brawl, straight out. Nothing was followed by the script. But then, Stephanie was prepared for that. On some level, she knew. And John owned his life for her because just as Paul raised those huge, forty pounds steps above his head, preparing to bring it down on his skull, a man tackled him to the ground from out of no where. John couldn't move he was so paralyzed. All he heard was a massive roar of cheers and chants. It wasn't directed at him; he wasn't _that_ popular, but he was glad it wasn't directed at Paul either. As John finally found the strength to rise to his feet, though unsteadily, and as his vision cleared, he saw Paul getting knocked down on the mat. Without hesitation, John slid into the ring. Paul turned and that's when John saw it…Steve Austin in the ring…fighting Paul. John's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. Once Steve gave Paul the stunner, John saw his opening. Bending down as far as possible, he got under Paul and rose up, lifting the five hundred pound-er onto his back, then his shoulders. Grunting from the weight, he held him in the air like that and looked at the crowd and into the cameras. Steve looked at the young kid with admiration. For the second time in either man's career, John nailed the F-U onto the big show. He dropped down and covered him, successfully pinning him. As John's music hit, he rolled off of Paul and fought to catch his breath. As he stood up, Steve offered his hand and helped John up. Signaling, Steve caught the beers that were thrown at him and tossed John two. He stared down at them then back at Steve, who hopped on the rope and hit the two cans together and chugged them. Watching him catch two more, John hopped on the opposite corner of the ring and did the same.

-----

Paul Heyman watched the closing of Raw and threw his remote control against the wall, breaking it. Taking his baseball cap off and throwing that as well, he paced the room where his office was, his hands on his head. He couldn't believe Stephanie. Though a small part of him knew she'd strike back after hearing of his plans, he never thought that she'd bring back Steve Austin of all people. Even though it was unfortunate that she found out about his plans, he thought it was fun too. Without her parents, Paul would be able to squash Stephanie like nothing. Then the WWE would be in _his_ name, and he'll run ECW how _he _liked…not what the WWE wanted. One way or the other, the past was about to return, and the war between WWE and ECW would brew once more.

------

Stephanie watched Steve and John drinking and shaking hands in the ring and smiled. If Paul Heyman wanted a fight, she'd give him one. She smirked as she shut the television off. It was a reminder of the past. Raw is War…ECW vs. Raw. Since ECW was in her family's name and they owned the brand, they needed to get rid of the pest…Heyman. To do that, they needed to destroy the brand. Just like they had in the past, they'd do it again. Stephanie was bringing the war back.


	8. Chapter 8

"Steve Austin?"

"Yep."

"Are you serious?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"…Do you really want me to answer that?"

Stephanie frowned. "I've _never_ lied to you!"

"No? What about that time when I was in the storyline with Vince and you went and added the mud to the scene…"

"Okay, okay…'nuff said."

Trish smiled. "That's what I thought." As Stephanie pulled her car into the arena, Trish frowned. "Steph, what're we doing here?"

"Taking care of business."

"Yeah but…you control Raw…" she said slowly, confused.

Stephanie pulled into a parking space and shit the car off and turned to Trish. "I know."

Trish watched her get out of the car and walk into the entrance as she just continued to stare at her. Stephanie turned back and held up her arms. "Well?"

Shaking her head, Trish unbuckled herself and jumped out of the car and caught up with Stephanie. "If we get in trouble, I am _so_ blaming you."

Stephanie laughed as they walked into the elevator.

----

"Alright, look here player," Smackdown's GM manager, Teddy Long began, "we have some intruders here at Smackdown tonight. We're not a hundred percent sure who they are, but we know they want to make a statement and make us look bad." The Smackdown stars and crew all exchanged looks with each other as Long continued. "Now, I got this information from a good friend of mine a few days ago. She's taking the personal time to fly up here and help pinpoint the crowd."

"Wait," Mark said, cutting him off. "There's more than one?"

Teddy nodded. "There's a whole roster." He watched as everyone began to bitch about it and argue with one another. "Now listen here, listen." Everyone quieted down. "We have Raw superstars that are coming here tonight too. Sorta, a backup security type thing. Now I want all you players to realize…none of this is scripted. When all hell breaks loose, you kick ass and take names. Smackdown will not tolerate this."

"Okay," Dave spoke up. "So who's helping us?"

Teddy smiled. "Go take a look for yourselves. They're here."

-----

Stephanie and Trish walked past the lockers and into the dining room area, where Adam, John, Paul, Randy, and Michael were waiting. "Hey, how long you guys been here for?"

John shrugged. "Just got here a few minutes ago."

Stephanie nodded. "And you all did what I asked?" They all nodded. "Alright, good."

Randy frowned. "Why do I feel like we're playing Mission Impossible or something?"

Stephanie stared at him. "You're a moron," Trish said sarcastically.

"Why? Cuz we're doing this sneaking spy shit?"

"The public has no idea what's going on," Stephanie explained. "If the fans found out, we'd look like the bad guys, just randomly showing up at our rivals show."

"It's just bullshit," Adam said. "We need to go to ECW and kick their ass. Let it be done with."

"And what is that gonna help with?" John asked.

"Teach 'em a lesson," Paul said.

John looked at Paul. "Yeah, then what? We kick their ass and send them into early retirement. Then all the money that was sunk into that brand will be gone because we'll drive away from the fans."

Stephanie listened to him, impressed, and nodded. "He's right. It's too much a risk."

"Your father took that risk," Paul told her.

"That's right. _He_ did. But I'm running the show for now, so they're _my_ calls."

Paul rolled his eyes and continued to chew his gum as John smirked at her, amazed on how easily she made Paul feel so small.

"So, you're all our saviors?"

Stephanie turned to Dave and smiled at him, hugging him. "How are you?"

Dave flashed her grin and pointed to his title on his shoulder. "It's fashionable, huh?"

Stephanie laughed. "It is."

John frowned, believing she was flirting with him, as he shook hands with David. "What's up man?"

"Nothing much, just can't believe this bullshit." He turned to Paul and shook his hand. "What's up?"

Paul shrugged. "Same old."

He looked from him to Stephanie and back. "Wow, you two are working together and still alive, huh?"

"Yeah well, he keeps to himself so…" Stephanie joked.

"That's a lie," Paul said, staring at her. He winked at Dave and whispered, "She still has it for me."

Dave laughed and John kept his cool, even though he found Paul to be getting on his nerves too rapidly. "Where's Mark and them?" Stephanie asked.

"Oh, Mark's getting ready," Dave said, "and honestly I've got to say, I'm glad you brought them all here."

"Why?"

Dave shrugged. "A lot of the guys are new."

Trish nodded. "That's a good reason."

"So…is there a plan or something?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Not completely. For now, we're playing it out by ear. I think we'll have them go into the audience and scope it out. Maybe we can catch some of them in the crowd."

Randy's eyes lit up. "Oh! Do we get earpieces and walkie talkie's?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes and walked out the room as she muttered to Dave, "See what I put up with?"

-------

They were nearing the last half hour of the show, and so far no ECW members had showed. In the break room, Stephanie and Teddy sat, watching the show and listening for the radio, as Trish, Randy and John were knocked out on the sofa. Stephanie rubbed her eyes and sighed.

"You sure about them, Stephanie?"

She looked at Teddy with tired eyes and nodded. "Yes, I am. Trust me when I say, I know how Paul Heyman plays."

Teddy nodded as it switched to commercial. "Alright, we'll, I'm going to head out there."

Stephanie nodded and turned around just as he opened the door. "Hey." He turned around. "Keep your eyes open."

He flashed her a smile and walked out. Stephanie looked over at Randy and them as he began to snore. She rolled her eyes and leaned back.

------

"This is bullshit man," Paul muttered angrily.

"What is?"

Paul stopped walked and looked at Michael shining his boots. "This! Playing security."

Michael looked up at Paul. "Well, you'd be complaining if you got ambushed."

Paul thought about it for a moment and nodded. "True, but still." He stopped as he saw Chris Benoit walked down the hallway towards them. "Hey, here comes Chris."

Michael looked up and at Paul again. "Don't do anything."

Paul frowned. "Why not?"

"He's been getting enough shit for being in ECW in the past," he explained. "Just leave him alone."

But Paul ignored him. "Yo, Chris!"

Chris stopped and looked at Paul, then shook his head. "Aw, shit."

Paul jogged over to him and gave him a cheesy smile. "What's up bro?"

Chris narrowed his eyes. "I'm not your brother."

Paul held up his hands. "Okay, okay. Jeez, don't have to get all defensive. You sound stressed."

"I have a title match coming up."

"Oh, I see. The US belt would look nice on Sci-Fi channel, huh?"

"Fuck you," Chris sneered, walking away.

"Fuck me?"

But Chris said nothing and Paul watched him walk away. Michael shook his head. "I told you…"

-----

Mark punched Dave and he hit the mat. He went to cover, but Dave kicked out in time. He stood up and took a second to see Teddy sitting at the table, watching and calling the match, and seeing Adam in the audience in a disguise. He turned back and ducked a clothesline, then matched him with his own. Mark proved quicker however and grabbed Dave by his throat, lifting him up. Just as he was about to land the move, he was hit from behind.

----

Stephanie watched the screen and quickly sat up, her eyes widened. "Oh, shit!"

She got up and slapped John's knee, startling him, and waking up the others. "What…what is it?"

"Come on!" Stephanie yelled, running out of the room.

John looked at her in confusion, then looked at the screen and saw Mark on the ground and Dave getting beat up with a chair.

-------

Adam jumped the barrier and threw off the hat and coat and slid into the ring. As the fans cheered, thinking it was all part of the show, Adam speared the attacker. He then grabbed the chair and hit him in the kidney. The man cried out and Adam did it again. He then went to check on Dave and Mark. As he did, he felt the mat move. He ignored it, thinking it was the referees'. That was mistake number one. He was picked up by his shirt and tossed across the ring into the post. He turned and saw Paul (Big Show), towering over him. Yelling, Adam charged at him but he simply moved and grabbed onto the shirt again and threw him into the other post. Not being able to slow down, Adam's shoulder went straight through the post and hit the metal piece. Screaming in pain, he sank to his knees, and clutched his shoulder. Just as Paul was about to finish Adam up, Paul (HHH) and Michael came running down to the ring. Paul, with his sledgehammer in his hand, slid in the ring first. Show kicked the hammer away and Michael delivered the sweet chin music. Taking advantage of the stunned Show, Paul picked up the hammer and swung it at Show, but he grabbed it and yanked it out of his hands, then hit Paul with it, connecting with his back. He gave out a yell and fell to the ground. Show then grabbed Michael by the throat and lifted him up with one hand, then slammed him to the mat, knocking him out cold. He looked around, seeing Paul, Michael, Mark, Dave and Adam all lied out and smirked, raising his hand and the hammer and shouting out to the crowd as they booed. But then the lights dimmed, and unfamiliar music filled the arena.

-------

John ran through the back, pushing people out of the way, attempting to catch up to Stephanie. "Steph!" He didn't even realize that Randy and Trish were behind him as he abruptly stopped.

Trish bumped into him and sent him a glare. "What the hell, John!"

He raised his finger to his mouth and looked at them. "Shhh. You hear that?"

Randy listened and shrugged. "What?"

Without warning, John took off sprinting again and Trish groaned. "Why does he _always_ do that?"

-----

Show looked towards the ramp and frowned. The video playing on the big screen didn't give any clue as to who was coming out. _Heyman didn't say anything about this._ Show jumped slightly as Pyro went off at the ramp and the lights brightened again as the music picked up. The crowd jumped to their feet and cheered loudly while Show was still clueless. Still, no one came out, but the cheers got louder. As he looked at the entrance, he felt the mat move slightly. Thinking one of them was coming too, he quickly turned around and his eyes widened. Before realizing what was coming, he was hit with a clothesline. Taken off guard, he was hit with another one, then another, and another. Show swayed slightly, shaking his head. He couldn't believe it. Of all guys to show up, Dwayne was the one to show. Just when he had the upper hand, Show grabbed him by the throat and held tight, lifting him up. Dwayne saw others coming into the ring and he rocked himself to slip free of Show's grasp. Hitting the floor with his feet, he ducked as Rob came at him with a clothesline. He in turn threw his shoulder into Tommy Dreamer, knocking him out of the ring, and bounced off the ropes, giving Rob a DDT. The cheers grew louder as John and Randy came running down the ramp and slid into the ring. Show gave Randy a chop on the chest, but he came back with several punches. Then Sandman came into the ring with CM Punk. He grabbed Dwayne and threw him against the post then started punching him. CM went after Randy as John took on Show.

-----

From the back, Stephanie watched nervously, with Trish by her side. "Come on guys, come on."

From behind them, the Smackdown and few Raw stars were waiting anxiously. "Just give us the word, Stephanie," Chris Benoit told her.

She nodded and rocked herself back and forth. _Not yet…not yet_.

-----

Dwayne blocked an advancing hit and came back with his own. Wrapping his arm around Sandman's' shoulder, he nailed the Rock Bottom, and then looked into the crowd. Swinging his arms, he jumped over him and bounced off the ropes, stopping above him, he drove his elbow deep into his breastplate. Randy punched CM so hard; it knocked him to his feet. Taking advantage, he grabbed his neck and performed his finishing move, knocking him out on a chair that was sitting in the ring. John ducked as Show tried to hit him and he bent down and let Show fall onto him, raising him on his shoulders. Using all his strength, John grunted, and hit the F-U on Show. The crowd roared in excitement and Dwayne and Randy grabbed John and raised their arms up, signaling their victory. It was short lived however as a swarm of ECW wrestlers came from the crowd and into the ring. Even as Dave and Mark finally came too, it wasn't enough.

----

Stephanie's eyes widened and she signaled to the crew members and turned to the wrestlers. "Go, go, go!"

-----

As they fought in the ring, the lights turned blue and Smackdown's own theme music hit. Paul Heyman's eyes widened as the entire locker, plus Raw stars, came out from all ends; the entrance, the crowd, under the ring, all attacking the ECW invaders. As the crowd cheered and laughed with excitement, Paul growled. _How in the world could they pull something like this off?!?_ He sighed and tried to keep his cool. He had one thing though that Stephanie and WWE didn't have anymore; and Monday night, he'd show the world what it is and will laugh to see Stephanie's stricken face.


	9. Chapter 9

"Dave has three broken ribs, Mark has a broken hand, Paul has two fractured ribs, and Adam has a torn shoulder," Stephanie was saying.

"Wow." Stephanie nodded and leaned back in her chair as Kurt Angle processed everything that had happened on Friday. He regretted not being there but since Vince forced him into a low key rehabilitation program…he couldn't show or wrestle for the whole month. Now, thanks to Stephanie and her connections, he was back. "I can't believe they'd go that far."

Stephanie stopped and looked at him. Sitting up, she said, "You don't?" Kurt shrugged. "You worked under Heyman both _in_ ECW and Smackdown after I left."

"Yeah, so?" Stephanie peered at him but said nothing, just shook her head. "So…who am I against tonight?"

Stephanie sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Oh, I don't know."

Kurt frowned. "Well…I'm main event status, right?"

"Didn't I just say that I don't know?"

"Well yeah, but come on…I'm your best friend."

Stephanie glared at him. "What does that have to do with anything?" Kurt shrugged again. "I'll tell you what…I already have a main even scheduled, but Cena still doesn't have an opponent so I'll set you two up."

Kurt nodded. "Alright, thanks Steph."

"No problem, now excuse me." Standing up, Stephanie grabbed her cell phone and walked out of her office and down the hall. Once Kurt could no longer hear her heels clicking on the cement, he stood up and leaned over her desk. Hitting the mouse so the computer came back on, he glanced at it. Moving the cursor to a folder on the desk top, he double clicked. Seeing the names and roasters of the contracts, he grinned and flipped open his phone.

-----

"I couldn't believe it," Michael said.

"Honestly, me either," Dwayne said laughing.

"Did you all know about ECW trying to take over?" Randy asked.

Dwayne looked over at Steve who was sitting down, listening to everyone talk. John, Steve, Randy, Dwayne, and Michael were all sitting in the locker room reliving Friday night. "You gotta understand something, kid," Steve said, standing up. "We've been in the company for a long time. Even though I don't like a lot of them, and just because we're always not on television, this company is always a part of us and they're a part of us. We were there, fighting, when this happened in the storyline. Now that it's real, and they think they can take over and take away everything we fought to keep alive…they're fucking mistaken."

Dwayne nodded. "ECW has no discipline. _That's_ what'll get them. Here…we're a team, an army."

John shook his head. "I just can't believe that a lot of the wrestlers here would cross over."

"It's a war," Steve said. "If they're not happy here or Heyman sweetens the deal somehow, 'course they'd switch. Wouldn't you?"

Thinking about it, John shook his head. Not only could he betray his friends, family and fans…but Stephanie as well. He'd never be able to do that to her; to just walk away and fight with her. He knew he'd lose. Stephanie was one of a kind. In some ways like her father, others like her mother, and then she was her own person who fed on power and money. No doubt that who ever crossed her she'd kill or seriously injury, one way or the other. She did it with Brock Lesnar, making him actually go to a different country to get a wrestling job since she spread rumors about him across the country. Of course it was heartless, but he got what was coming to him. "No, I wouldn't."

Steve chuckled. "You're still young, Cena. Still young."

Just as he went back and sat down, the door burst open and Chris ran in. "Alright, what the hell happened?"

John raised his eyebrow as Randy laughed. "A little late there, Chris?" Michael chuckled.

Chris frowned and shot him a dirty look. "Yeah, Steph didn't tell me shit." Seeing Dwayne and Steve, he smiled and shook their hands. "Wow, I never thought I'd see the two of you again with you all living in Hollywood."

"I don't live in Hollywood," Steve said with no emotion.

Chris faltered. "I know that…"

"Then why'd you say it?"

"It was just a joke…"

Steve smiled at him and Chris hit him in the shoulder. "You're a dick." Turned to the others he said, "SO listen, I heard from someone yesterday that an ECW guest is appearing here tonight."

John's eyes widened. "You serious?" Chris nodded.

"Well, we knew that'll happen," Dwayne said.

"Apparently Heyman's not backing down since Stephanie is running things."

Dwayne shook his head. "Of course he isn't. You know how his ego is. He doesn't like getting beaten."

"Especially by a woman," Steve remarked.

"Especially by Stephanie," Dwayne added.

"They really have a bad history, huh?" John asked.

All the men, save for John and Randy, nodded. "Oh yeah," they said in unison.

-----

"No Dad," Stephanie said on her phone in annoyance. "No…I have it under control. Yes, I'm sure."

Stephanie stopped in the indoor parking lot of the arena and sighed, seeing Steve's truck blocking her car. "Dad…let me call you back."

She closed her phone as Steve walked past her saying, "Stressed?"

Stephanie sighed again, loudly, and looked at Steve, defeated. "Why must you annoy me so much?"

Steve grinned at her. "Because it's in my character."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and walked to her car, clicking the alarm off as Steve jumped in his truck. She closed the door and inserted the keys. As the car roared to life, she looked at the clock and realized the show would start in two hours. As she shifted the car into reverse, the passenger side door opened and Steve jumped in, closing the door behind him. Stephanie glared at him as he made himself comfortable, holding a can of beer in his hand. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked slowly.

"Going with you."

"I'm just going across the street."

Steve shrugged. "So? What if Heyman or his boy toys are waiting for you outside? What're you gonna do? Scratch them with you're abnormally long nails?"

Stephanie huffed and subconscious looked at her nails then shot Steve a dirty look. "You're a bastard."

She backed up and threw the car into drive and sped out…desperately needed some Advil for her headache called Steve Austin.

-----

As Stephanie pulled into the gas station, she put the car in park and took out the keys, throwing them into her purse. Pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing, she dug in her purse and pulled out one of her credit cards and handed it to Steve.

He raised his eyebrow at her. "What's this? Late retirement gift?"

Stephanie glared at him. "No smartass. Use it to fill up the tank while I go inside to get some Advil."

Steve shook his head and handed the card back to her. "I don't do bitch work."

Stephanie opened her door. "You came with me so make yourself useful."

He rolled his eyes as she slammed the door and jogged up to the front door and went inside. Steve opened his door and unscrewed the gas top of the car and did the required steps to use the card. As he put the gas in, he leaned against the car, his arms crossed against his chest as he looked over to a man who was wearing a suit, with is back to him. Steve noticed the car, a shiny black Lexus, one that he could swear he saw before. He narrowed his eyes as he saw another car drive up. The person that got out of the car he immediately recognized as Kurt Angle. The short, buff body and bald head was impossible to miss. Steve watched as the two talked and Kurt handed him some papers. The man in the suit seemed very pleased and patted Kurt on the back, who seemed too excited. _Something's wrong with this picture._ Hearing the click brought Steve back to reality. He heard the door bell ring and saw Stephanie walking back to the car. Steve quickly took out the gas pump and screwed in the top. He snatched the receipt and card and turned around as Stephanie stood by her side. "Get in the car."

Stephanie frowned at him, noticing his tone. "What the-?"

Steve glared at her. "Get in the fucking car." As Steve jumped in and slammed the door, Stephanie rolled her eyes and did the same. As she started the car he said, "Hurry up and get out of here."

"I haven't even buckled my seat belt," she complained.

Losing his patience, he shifted the car into drive and drove his hand into her leg, pressing the gas hard. Acting quickly, Stephanie jerked the steering wheel to the left and the car made a perfect u-turn, burning rubber, as she went to the stop sign. Steve released the pressure and Stephanie slowed down into the dip, and then hit the gas, getting his message, and sped away.

Kurt and the man in suit watched the car that sped away and exchanged worried and suspicious glances at each other.

---

Stephanie stepped out of the car and slammed her door. "What the fuck was that about?" she yelled.

"I saw Kurt and Heyman together," he said.

"At the gas station?" He nodded. "And you thought it was wise to make that big ass get-a-way scene right in front of them?"

"They probably had their people around," he argued.

Stephanie shook her head and walked away. "You are such an ass."

"Why?" he called out to her, following her. "Because I told you that you're 'best friend' is probably with your worst enemy?"

"No, just because I don't like you."

"Feeling's mutual, Princess," he spat.

"What, you're already drunk?" she snapped back.

John and Chris walked up to them. "What's going on?" John asked.

"Kurt is working with Paul," Steve said.

Chris frowned. "Paul…?"

"Heyman, you jackass."

"I'm not the jackass, jackass," Chris retorted.

Stephanie shook her head. "Will the two of you brats shut up!" They all looked at her in surprise. "Look, we don't know yet what Kurt was doing with Paul, _if_ it was in fact him. I'm pretty sure if it was them, then they'll try something tonight." She turned to John. "You're fighting him tonight mid card. Don't hesitate."

John nodded. "I won't."

Stephanie turned to Chris and Steve. "Steve, you have a promo with Chris. As I told you last night, I don't care what you do or say, just take up air time. The fans love hearing you talk shit anyways," she muttered.

"All right, Steph," Chris said, watching her walk away. "Whatever you want."

John frowned and looked at the two men, Steve who shrugged and Chris who looked concerned.

-----

Stephanie had her head on the desk when she heard a knock on her door. "What?"

"It's me, John." Stephanie said nothing. "Can I come in?" Still, she said nothing. John cracked the door a bit and saw her lying her head down on the desk. His frown deepened as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "You feelin' alright?"

Stephanie lifted her head. "No, not really," she admitted.

John grabbed a chair and pulled it directly beside her and sat down. "Anything I can do?"

She smiled weakly. "You could kick Kurt's ass for me." John smiled. "It just kills me that he'd do this."

John shrugged and looked into her eyes. "Well, he's weak. Doesn't know a good friend when he's got it."

"Yeah but…we've been friends for years. I knew him before I ever met Paul.  
John frowned. "Levesque," she cleared up.

"Oh."

"I just…find it funny that people would take advantage of this company and my family because my father isn't here," she told him.

"I don't think you're weak at all."

"Don't lie."

"No, seriously," he said. "I think you're the strongest woman I know. The only one I'm scared of at times." Stephanie giggled. "I mean, when you left Smackdown, it was so unexpected. It…broke my heart." Stephanie looked at him and he blushed slightly. "I've had a crush on you for the longest time. Everyone told me after you left and I came to Raw to forget about it. I had all this money, and fame…all these girls after me, but I didn't want any of it. Every girl was a bimbo. I wanted someone that was my equal. That would love me for me and drive me insane but keep me on my feet. Someone who didn't care if I had money or if I was the champion."

Stephanie nodded, her eyes shining. "And have you found this woman?"

John shrugged. "I dunno. Haven't really gotten the chance to _know_ her."

"Well…maybe you should."

John smiled. "Well, what about you?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Oh, I don't know."

"Come on."

"No seriously. I don't know," she told him, "I always thought that I'd get married, have a good career, a good job and have kids. Then I got divorced and it all changed."

"Haven't you dated since then?"

"Yes, but none of them were my type," she admitted. "They were…boring."

John chuckled. "What kind of guy do you want?"

Stephanie looked at him closely. "I'm not sure," she whispered.

They sat there, for a good few minutes, just staring at each other, unsure of what to say, but John couldn't hide his smile. Stephanie wasn't sure what to think though. She felt attracted to John, but she was his boss. After Paul, she wasn't sure dating an employee was a good idea. All that was flushed away however when John leaned in and kissed Stephanie. Though she was surprised, she didn't stop him. The kiss was tender and sweet; innocent. Stephanie then kissed him back and she could feel his surprise, but it didn't stop him. She leaned in and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him in closer. It felt so right to her that they didn't hear the door open.

"Oh!" Both quickly broke apart and Stephanie wiped her mouth and looked down as John looked up to see Trish standing in the doorway, smirking. "Sorry, I didn't know you two were…_busy_."

Stephanie glared at her best friend. "Trish, get out of here!"

"Okay, but you might want to lock the door this time," she chuckled as she closed the door.

Stephanie rolled her eyes as John laughed. She looked at him and couldn't help but smile. John stood up and went to the door, locking it. Once he turned around, Stephanie grabbed his shoulders and shoved him against the wall. He looked down at her in surprise and excitement. Then she kissed him roughly and lifted her and moved to the couch. Putting her down, they both laughed, both surprised that they were doing this, but neither stopped. John took his shirt off and threw it. He never imagined he'd be with the Billion Dollar Princess this way…but he didn't care. He was; and that's all that mattered.


	10. Chapter 10

Stephanie stared at her computer screen and sighed deeply, running her hand through her hair. She barely registered the knock on her door as Trish stepped in quietly. Trish looked at Stephanie then at the television behind her and stepped in, closing the door behind her and sitting down across from Stephanie, feeling her friend's tension. "Hey."

"Hey."

"You okay?"

Stephanie nodded slowly, spinning her chair to face Trish, but then sighed. "I'm screwing things up."

Trish frowned. "What're you talking about?"

Stephanie pointed to her computer screen. "We've lost at least ten people to ECW."

Trish's eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

Stephanie nodded. "And Kurt is one of them."

"No way!"

Stephanie stood up and walked up to her schedule board. "Yeah. One of my oldest friends betrayed me and is hightailing over to Heyman." Stephanie turned around. "You know, when my father created the branch, I thought it was part of our company."

"It is."

"Then how is Heyman able to steal it from us?" she demanded.

Trish shrugged. "I don't know. There must be something in the contract they've signed when Vince gave a percentage of the show over to Paul…"

Snapping her fingers, Stephanie nodded and walked out of the office. Trish blinked and shrugged as she turned her attention to the television and show John pinning Kurt in their match and winning. She smiled lightly. "Go John," she whispered.

* * *

Stephanie walked over to the backstage area near the gorilla and snapped her fingers at one of the crew members. "Hey, you."

He stood up straight from fixing the sound system and pointed his thumb in his chest. "Me?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah. I need you to run an errand," she said walking up to him. "Go to the aid office and call Peter Daly. Give him this fax number to my office and tell him I need a copy of the documents and contract for the deal with ECW between my father and Paul Heyman. Got it?"

He nodded and quickly took off. Stephanie pointed to other crew man. "You. Set up the Rock's entrance and my own."

"Yes Mrs. McMahon."

She turned to one of the security men as Dwayne and Steve walked up to her. "I need you to set up a flag on any ECW members and Paul Heyman. They might be planning to compromise the show. I want them taken care of."

He nodded and spoke on his radio, repeating the instructions, and went his own way. "What's going on?" Dwayne asked.

"You're going out there," Stephanie said bluntly, handing him a microphone.

He raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Stephanie glanced at the television and show that Kurt was holding a microphone in his hand as John took a spot in the corner of the ring, holding his belt tightly. "Kurt is with ECW."

Both men raised their eyebrows in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah.

Steve nodded at the monitor. "Is that what's going on now?"

They turned and heard Kurt yell, "Shut up! I have something important that needs to be said."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and turned back to the men. "You need to get out there."

Dwayne nodded. "Yeah, sure Steph."

Steve proceeded to walk out there, but Stephanie blocked his way. He shot her an annoyed look, but she ignored it. "I need you to do something else for me."

He raised his eyebrows.

* * *

John watched as Kurt paced the ring, getting annoyed at the crowds boos at him. "Shut up!" John just laughed and smiled as the fans only grew louder. "You know what?" Kurt yelled. "That's fine. It is. Because _I_ will be getting the last laugh! I'm getting sick of being cast aside and disrespected in this company and by you people. Each and every one of you suck!"

"But that's okay," Kurt continued. "Because I'm done with this company," he turned to John and pointed at him, "I'm done with your 'fake' champion and I'm finished with the McMahon's."

The audience silenced and John turned as unfamiliar music was heard throughout the arena. John saw no one coming down the ramp and watched as the spotlight moved into the audience and Paul Heyman came over the barrier. John's eyes widened. _Oh no…_ Paul smirked at them as he walked into the ring. John shifted his stance and narrowed his eyes at Paul as Kurt smirked and handed the mic to Paul.

"Well, well, Cena," Paul said, sizing John up. "Long time to see." John shook his head and stepped forward, but Kurt did as well. "Now, now John. Don't do anything stupid."

Something within John snapped. He rushed forward and grabbed Paul's hand forcefully before Kurt could react and raised the mic to him. "Stupid?" he echoed, filled with anger. "You're the one that's stupid, coming here on Raw singing the same old song. What do you think is gonna happen Paul? You think you'll be able to take over the show?"

Paul shook his head and tore the mic back as the fans booed loudly. "ECW isn't a WWE program. It's never been until Vince and his little slut of a daughter made it to be," he explained. "I'm taking the old ECW back!"

To John's amazement, fans actually cheered and few booed. He looked around to see the mixed reaction on some of their faces. Then the arena was filled with another's music. But one that he knew well. Dwayne came down the ramp and jumped into the ring and grabbed his own mic. "What the hell-?" Paul started.

Dwayne held up his hand and shook his head. "No, no. Don't say anything you big sausage." John chuckled and Paul yelled at Kurt to do something. "I don't know who you think you are to come on my show and talk all the bull crap you're talking. You obviously don't know what show you're on, do you? This isn't TNA. It's not UCF. It's not even Smackdown. You're on Raw!"

John nodded beside Dwayne as the ring shook slightly. He smiled as Steve crept behind Kurt. Dwayne smiled at him and pointed over his shoulder. The second Kurt turned, he was stunned. Reacting quickly, John dropped the title and lifted Paul on his shoulders. With the fans approval, John hit the F-U on Paul. Backing up, Dwayne ran at the ropes, using the extra speed, and stopped over Paul, then hit him with the People's Elbow. The fans cheers filled the arena, so loudly that John could barley hear himself think. Steve caught a beer in midair and opened it right over Kurt, spilling most of it on him, then drank it, throwing the empty can on Paul. John picked up the mic and his title and looked around at the cheering crowd, then down at Paul. "I only got a few words for you, Paul," John looked up, directly in the camera, "and ECW. If ya want some, come get some!"

He dropped the mic as his music hit and the trio left the ring with their hands held high and Paul and Kurt laid out in the ring.

As they walked backstage, they saw Stephanie on the phone, yelling at who ever was on the receiving end. Trish and Amy came to the guys and smiled at them. "That was great guys, really."

John shrugged. "It was nothing."

Steve nodded. "Yeah, if it were up to me, I would've ripped them apart."

"Well, it's not," Dwayne said, glaring at him.

"What I don't get is why no other ECW star interfered," Amy said.

John shrugged. "Maybe they weren't there."

Steve shook his head. "No, they had to be. No way would they let just Kurt and Heyman stand in enemy territory."

John watched Stephanie losing her temper and he turned to Trish. "Is she okay?"

Trish looked over at her best friend. "She'll be okay." She looked back at him. "She feels responsible. The whole business is falling apart while she's heading it. It won't exactly look very good in front of her father's eyes or the boards."

John nodded, understanding, as the others walked away, preparing to go home. He shook his head, unable to believe how quickly her mood could change. Did it even mean anything that they did? And if it did, what did it mean to her? To them? Even though he really wanted to talk to her, John decided it'll be best to just leave her and talk to Stephanie later.


	11. Chapter 11

**Rating for this chapter: T+ ; Mature Themes**

The sun cracked through the blinds, letting light into the room. Her clothes were thrown on the floor; empty wine glasses lied on the floor, unaided.

_I dreamed I was missing  
You were so scared  
But no one would listen  
Cause no one else cared_

The bed was unmade, shuffled, her half naked body mixed in with the silk white sheets. The suitcase was left open, clothes and personal items draping out of it.

_After my dreaming  
I woke with this fear  
What am I leaving  
When I'm done here_

Papers and folders lay on the dresser, unorganized and scattered. In the bathroom, several medicine bottles were left open, pills strewn all over the counter and floor.

_So if you're asking me  
I want you to know_

Blood dried in the sink and floor and trailed back to the small table by the window.

_(Chorus)__  
When my time comes  
Forget the wrong that I've done  
Help me leave behind some  
Reasons to be missed_

The purse was spilled, loose change and many large bills fell on the table next to the cell phone and keys.

_And don't resent me  
And when you're feeling empty  
Keep me in your memory_

Next to it was the open laptop. A website was still on the screen with a picture of herself, at work, just when she had returned, with the words 'slut' below it.

_Leave out all the rest  
Leave out all the rest  
__(End Chorus)_

On the side of it was an article titled, 'Controlling Billion Dollar Bitch is back and firing officials left and right'. Then the alarm clock blared.

Its noise woke her to a start; her head quickly popping up, startled, and looked around, frantic. Her eyes found the clock, and glared at it, while she slammed her hand down on it, shutting it off.

_So if you're asking me  
I want you to know_

She sat up all the way and brushed back her blonde hair. Groaning and clutching her head, which was throbbing, she slowly got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom.

_  
When my time comes  
Forget the wrong that ive done  
Help me leave behind some  
Reasons to be missed_

With her eyes still partially closed, she bent down, turning on the water, and rinsed her face. Wiping it off with a towel, she pulled back the shower curtain and turned it on, all the way to the hottest setting.

_Don't resent me  
And when you're feeling empty  
Keep me in your memory_

She threw the towel in the corner and peered at herself in the mirror. Heavy, voluminous eyes stared right back at her. Her normally bright blue eyes were dark and clouded, her lips in a thin line, looking like death itself.

_Leave out all the rest  
Leave out all the rest  
_

She hastily opened the medicine cabinet and pulled pill bottles out. Closing it, she popped off the top and dumped them in her hand, then threw her hand back and shoved them down her throat, swallowing hard.

_Forgetting  
All the hurt inside  
You've learned to hide so well_

She threw the bottle down and did the same thing to the second one.

_Pretending  
Someone else can come and save me from myself  
I can't be who you are_

Panting profoundly, she leaned over the sink and stared back at herself again.

She blinked, fighting off a wave of dizziness, and lifted up the toilet seat and threw up.

_Don't resent me  
And when you're feeling empty  
Keep me in your memory_

She sighed, in substance, as the steam filled her lungs and her naked body washed itself of the sins from the hot sweltering water.

_Leave out all the rest  
Leave out all the rest_

Though the hot water turned her skin red, she did not care.

_Forgetting  
All the hurt inside  
You've learned to hide so well_

It felt good. It felt _real_.

_Pretending  
Someone else can come and save me from myself  
I can't be who you are  
I can't be who you are_

_(end song)_

As she grabbed the shampoo bottle, her thoughts drifted to what had occurred between her and John Cena several days ago. Then, the thought of her father and the council jumping on her about Paul Heyman's backstabbing and stealing many talents from them. Of course she'd get blamed for that. It was all her fault. She never got the recognition of the good things she'd done; alone the negative things. She's never been enough. Not through her middle and high school; not through college and now in her career. She wasn't enough for her ex-husband and she wasn't enough for her family and friends. She wasn't the good boss; she was the enemy. It wasn't her; that wasn't who _she_ _was_. So why was she always attacked and why did it affect her so much? She could only put on a show for so long. And twenty seven years was in fact a long time. As she wrapped the towel around her, she sighed, feeling slightly better, but still with a small headache. As she got of the bathroom, her cell phone rang. She gradually walked over to it, knowing full well it was a business call. Someone wanted to bitch her out once more. What else was new? Rolling her eyes, she reached and flipped open the phone, saying her proper introduction: "Stephanie McMahon."

* * *

The news had traveled fast. WWE lost over seven million dollars from ECW breaking away from WWE and the USA network and Sci-Fi to going over to the Spike Channel on an extensive viewing. Not only did they lose money by network, but by losing over twenty superstars, new ones included, to ECW, ripped from OVW, Smackdown and Raw. Then they lost money in merchandising when ECW and Heyman filed a lawsuit against them for unlawfully selling the products once the stars contracts were ripped up.

Once Stephanie pulled into the parking lot, her head began to pound. Never had the business been in so much trouble, financial or otherwise, and her father always made sure of that. Now, somehow, someway, everything was falling apart, and all in her management. Evidently, it didn't look too good for her.

"How do you explain all of this, Miss McMahon?" one of the senior members asked.

Of course, Stephanie was at a lost. What exactly was she to say? What _could_ she say? Instead, she inhaled and replied, "I don't know, Mr. Fullon."

He sighed, shook his head, and wrote something down in his notebook. Stephanie glared at him, but said nothing. From across the table, her father was conspicuously staring at her, unmistakably angry, but powerless to speak.

"Well," said another member, "World Wrestling Entertainment is in quite a tangle. We now have a lawsuit against us, we are fast approaching a debt and we've lost, not only fans, but over two hundred and fifty million dollars, just in this past week." Stephanie looked down, feeling mortified and doubled teamed between her family and the council. "We're thinking of replacing the leadership on Raw."

Stephanie's head popped up. "What?" She looked at her father, who didn't say anything. "Why?"

He stared at her, his eyes boring into hers as he folded his hands and sat up straighter. "Miss McMahon, Paul Levesque and Michael Hickenbottom, are both out of action. The storyline has Adam Copeland moving to Smackdown and John Cena has lost his huge fan support. Raw's biggest talents, the leading headliners, are no longer there."

Stephanie's eyes narrowed. "Paul is coming back in two weeks, Michael is getting cleared in three days, I'll find an excellent heel for the fans to hate to raise John's fan support and I will rewrite the storyline for Adam!" she replied testily. "Myself and Chris Irvine are doing our best. Do you honestly think I wanted this or even expected it!" she demanded. She stood up, her palms pressed on the table as she leaned forward, her irate eyes going from her father to the members. "I warned you all," he turned to her father, glaring at him, "I warned _you_, not to hire Heyman again. But you all ignored me, and now you dare to blame _me_ for your fuck up!"

The senior member stood up as well, challenging Stephanie. "Miss McMahon!"

She glared at him and stood up straight, crossing her arms across her chest, and glaring at him. "Are you challenging me?

"This kind of behavior will not be tolerated!" he bellowed.

She raised her eyebrow. "No? Let me tell you something; the fans think of me as a manipulative bitch." Vince stared at his daughter with a poignant expression, but still remained unspoken. "Heyman is a cocky asshole. Give me one week and I guarantee you that not only will I raise ratings for Raw, but I'll bring Heyman to his knees, begging for mercy."

The senior member raised his eyebrows and looked at the other members, silently conversing. He sighed and looked at Stephanie. "You've always been confident before, Stephanie," he said quietly. He glanced at Vince. "Your father has always been speaking highly of you so we will grant you this. However, if you do not meet what you have said, you _will_ be fired, and not even your family will be able to stop that from happening. Do you understand?"

Stephanie gathered her papers together and gave him a short look. "Perfectly," she sneered.

Then she stomped out of the office, her high heels clicking against the perfectly waxed tile.

* * *

Randy twirled the basketball on his finger and smiled as he was balancing it perfectly just as he heard squealing. Losing his concentration, he stopped and turned to see a silver BMW speeding into the back lot of the arena, burning rubber as it made a sharp turn and slammed on the brakes, finding a parking space. He raised his eyebrows as he read the tag. 'Billion$$'. He smiled as Stephanie stepped out, slamming the door, and clicking the alarm, throwing her bag over her shoulder and walking rapidly in his direction.

"Hey Steph," he greeted.

Without looking at him, she replied, "Hey Randy."

He followed her, bouncing the basketball. "So, any big plans tonight?" he asked.

"No."

"Really? No big matches?"

"Nope." She opened her office door and threw her bag down as Randy let himself in. He watched as she went directly to the phone.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Working." She raised her eyebrows as she pressed the receiver against her ear. "Are you bored or something?"

He smiled weakly and nodded. She shook her head as a thought suddenly occurred to her. She slowly hanged up the phone and looked at Randy. He noticed the look and took a few steps back. "What?" he said. "I don't like that look."

"Randy," she said slowly, standing up. He backed away even further, not liking her tone. "I need a big favor from you."

He shook his head. "Stephanie."

She batted her eyelashes. "Please."

He rolled his eyes, sighing. "You know I hate when you do that," he muttered.

"You'll enjoy it."

He looked at her closely. "Why?"

Her eyes darkened. "Remember RVD?" Randy looked at her closely. "I want you to take him out. He better be escorted to the back suffering from an injury."

Randy smirked, liking the sound of that. "Just tell me when."

She smiled back at him. The smirk on her face scared him slightly, but he pushed the feeling away. "Tonight."

* * *

As John walked down the hallway of the arena, he spotted Vince sitting in a corner, holding the ECW belt on his lap. Raising an eyebrow, he walked over to his boss. "Hey, Vinnie." Vince looked up at John, but said nothing. "You alright?"

"Yeah."

John frowned. "Sure don't sound like it." He pointed to the belt. "I'd sound a lot happier than that holding that belt."

Vince stood up and looked at the WWE champion. "It's all going to hell," he said as he turned to walk away.

John shook his head and jogged up to him. "Wait, what?"

"The company," the older man muttered. "I sank all these years into it, all this money, and now in my 'golden years', one little backstabbing, little, dickhead ruins it because he thinks he can take advantage of my family."

John frowned. "Vince, you gotta believe we'll bounce back from this."

He turned and faced John. "I can't interfere in this. So no, I _don't_ know if I believe in it."

John looked at him. "What're you talking about?"

Vince sighed. "In the WWE contract, for the business, I've signed a sworn statement, stating my successor."

John nodded. "Okay."

Vince blinked, almost wanting to slap that kid for being stupid. "I chose Stephanie, but the council thinks it's a mistake."

John blinked. "Why? She's great."

Vince nodded. "That's what I've said. The very fact that Heyman tried this shit and we've lost so much money just convinces them even more that she's not."

John shook his head. "Okay, so what exactly are you saying? They're gonna fire Stephanie?" Vince nodded. "They can't do that."

"Sure they can. If in one week things don't change, they'll strip her of her title and kick her out the door," he told John. "But what kills me the most is that there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

"Maybe you can't do anything about it," John said, his voice tight and filled with assurance. "But I can."

* * *

_- Linkin Park's- Leave Out All the Rest_

I was going to write more to the chapter, but I figured I'd end it here and continue on another chapter to update later, you know, leaving room for reviews and opinions. :)


	12. Chapter 12

Randy saw Rob jump onto the top rope out of the corner of his eye and groaned, ignoring the throbbing pain in his gut. He knew, better than anyone, that the pain would soon pass. Just before Rob Van Dam had a chance to turn around and see that Randy was standing, he rushed at him and pushed him off the top rope. Randy watched as Rob smacked his head against the barrior. His eyes widened. He stood back and watched the fans reaction as Rob slowly got up. He looked over at JR and Jerry who only looked back at Randy, disappointed and obviously confused. _It wasn't written in the script._ Randy swallowed hard and remembered what Stephanie had said to him earlier. She wanted Rob 'taken care of'. Even though he didn't like those words coming out of Stephanie's mouth, and that it scared him, he still had given her his word. And he never backed down on his word.

Randy slid out of the ring and stalked over to Rob. Grabbing his hair he threw him into the metal post then into the ring. As he slid in, Rob kicked him. He went to punch him, but Randy blocked it and hit him back. Acting quickly, he delivered a DDT, lying Rob out for the count. Randy stood up and smirked as the ref pushed him away and went to aid Rob, who wasn't moving. He looked around and laughed as the ref signaled for help. He jumped out of the ring and grabbed a chair from the corner.

JR's eyes widened and he covered the mic with his hand and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing with that?"

"Stay out of this, donut boy," Randy snapped, going back into the ring. He smirked as he held the chair up, much to the fans disapproval. He grabbed the ref by the shirt and tossed him aside as he brought the chair down, making a sickening sound.

* * *

Stephanie smiled and shut off the television as she turned to her computer. "How's that for a statement," she muttered proudly.

A knock was heard on her door as she looked up to see John standing there. "John," she said, surprised.

He smiled weakly at her and walked in, closing the door. "Sorry for just dropping in but I wanted to talk to you."

"Okay."

He cleared his throat. "Well, first I came to see how you're doing."

Stephanie frowned and shut off the computer screen, standing up and straightening out her skirt. "My Dad spoke to you."

He nodded. "Yeah."

She stood in front of him and leaned against her desk folding her arms across her chest. "I'm a big girl, John. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah," he agreed. "But Heyman's a maniac."

Stephanie smiled slightly. "Is that…are you worried about me?"

He shifted his stance and shook his head, avoiding her smirking expression, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "No," he muttered.

She laughed. "Oh my god. The Champ," she mocked, making him frown as he looked back at her. "The man who swore to strike down Dalip is playing a protective puppy dog to his boss," she mocked. John stared at her. She laughed again. "Seriously, what are you here about?"

He shook his head and took off his hat to rub his hand then placed it back on. "Uh, I wanted to talk to you about…last week."

"What about it?"

"Well," John said, getting more uncomfortable. "I was just wondering…if it meant anything."

Stephanie blinked. "Um, I don't know." John studied her closely. "I mean, with everything going on with the company…I never really gave any thought to it," she admitted.

John frowned and stepped up, close to her, smelling her perfume, as his hand gently touched her eyebrow. "Where'd you get that from?"

Stephanie hissed and swatted his hand away as he touched a cut on her eyebrow. "Ow!"

He held up his hands. "Sorry," he muttered. He looked at her as she walked over to the mirror on the wall and examined the small wound. "What happened?"

She frowned as she touched it. "I don't remember." She blinked several times, trying to remember.

_The blood on the sink and floor…_

He walked up from behind her and gazed at her in the mirror. "Steph…"

She slowly turned around and looked up at him in his piercing blue eyes. "John," she breathed. "You really don't want to get involved with me."

He shook his head, brushing back a strand of her hair, astounded with her, as he smiled and shook his head. "No," he whispered, pressing his body against hers. Stephanie closed her eyes and sighed. The contact struck up lightning between them and her heart beat rose, feeling the sexual tension between them. "Ever since I laid eyes on you," he said, bringing his lips close to her. "I love you."

Something in Stephanie snapped within her. Stephanie pushed John off of her and walked around him. He spun around and looked at her in confusion. "What?"

Stephanie looked at him with wide eyes. "Did you hear what you just said to me?" she demanded. He shrugged looking at her sadly. "You said you _loved_ me. John, you don't even know me!"

John held up his hands. "Okay, maybe that was a little forward. But I still meant it."

Stephanie shook her head. "No, you didn't."

John narrowed his eyes. "How would you know?" he snapped. "I say what I mean."

She sighed. "John-"

But she was cut off when he walked up to her, cupping her chin with his hand, and kissed her passionately. Despite the uncertainty she was feeling, Stephanie didn't break the kiss. Instead, she slid her hand up his shirt and leaned in further. She moaned as he rubbed her backside then picked her up and placed her on her desk. He regrettably broke the passionate kiss and stared into her eyes as she panted. "Steph…are you sure?"

Instead of answering, she leaned in and kissed him. He didn't argue as he cleared the desk of all the objects and papers and laid her flat, leaning over her. He gazed into her eyes as she proceeded to take his shirt off.

* * *

Vince stormed into the back lot of the arena and scowled as he saw Paul Heyman leaning up against Stephanie's car. "Heyman, what the hell are you doing here?"

The former General Manager smiled at his former boss and stood up straight, walking towards him. "Hey Vince. How are the kids?"

"You better answer me dammit."

Paul raised his hands, offended. "Now, now. No need to get all testy. I didn't come to start a fight."

"Then why are you here?"

Paul shrugged. "Just came to give you some wide words of advice." Vince raised his eyebrows. "Get your daughter out of this, Vince. She'll only get hurt."

Vince glared at Paul. "Is that a threat?"

Paul laughed heartily and patted Vince on the back. "Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie. You never learn do you? You and your family are just so hard headed that you never learn?" He glared at Vince in the eyes. Even though he was shorter, he never backed down. "WWE is mine. I'm sick of being undermined by that bitch daughter of yours and I'm sick of being ignored and passed off. I loved this job before I met you and your daughter. All you two have done for me was taint it. ECW was my field and yet you continue to ruin it!" he replied angrily. "Those days are long over. My first, last and only warning. Get your family out of this because this is a war. No more scripts, no more rehearsals and practices." He grinned at Vince as he glared at him with pure hatred. "Enjoy the rest of the night, Mr. McMahon."

Vince watched as Paul walked out of the arena just as Adam and Randy ran up beside him. "What was that?" Randy asked.

Vince continued to stare as Adam asked, "Want us to go after him?"

Vince shook his head. "No." He turned to them, seeing the disappointment in their eyes. "We will, soon," he reassured them. "But we have to be smart about this. Stephanie was right about one thing…this _is_ a war now."

* * *

John slipped on his shirt as Stephanie zipped up her skirt. She brushed back her hair and picked up her heels as she glanced at the mess on the floor. John noticed her looking around and raised his eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

Stephanie bent down and started to pile the papers together. "No, it'll just take me forever to get these papers back in order."

"Here, lemme help," John offered, picking up various files and papers as well.

"John, it's okay," Stephanie said. "I know you have a match soon."

"Yeah well, I don't think I'm really in any condition to be wrestling now," he said.

Stephanie looked up at him sharply and saw the cocky grin on his face. She laughed as he pulled her into him and kissed her tenderly. Once they broke away, he gazed into her eyes and said softly, "Steph…what is this to you?"

Stephanie blinked a few times and pushed John off of her again as she stood up. "I already told you…"

"Just, tell me what you're feeling," he asked, standing up.

She sighed and looked at him. "I…" She was cut off as her phone began to ring. She looked around, trying to figure out where it was, as John rolled his eyes. Stephanie moved a pile of papers and picked up the phone. "Stephanie Mc…" John watched her closely as Stephanie glanced at the floor then at John, her eyes filled with excitement. "Yes, thank you." Stephanie closed the phone and smiled at John.

"What?"

"Paul's coming back," she said happily. John blinked. "_Our_ Paul," she clarified.

John nodded as he grabbed his hat. "That's great."

Stephanie frowned. "Why aren't you happy about that?" she asked. "Paul is one other person to help us drive the nail into Heyman's coffin."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Aren't you?" Stephanie asked. "Heyman is like a virus, invading our job, hurting the people we care about, destroying our careers…" Stephanie watched John and sighed. "Look, I know what you want to hear….but I'm not sure if it's something I can say."

"Why not? Don't you feel the same way I do?"

"I don't know you that well, John," Stephanie said. "Don't you understand that?"

John shrugged. "Don't you at least want to try?"

So many thoughts entered Stephanie's mind at that moment. The possibility of her and John dating and hitting it off. Of it ending badly. It didn't come at a good time. The war with the newly darkened ECW and Heyman didn't lighten things up. But then, what if Stephanie didn't give it a try? What would she miss out with John and could she really stand to see him with another woman?

Stephanie sighed and she looked down at her hands. "You know," she said softly, looking up at him. "I think I can," she admitted.

John smiled. "Really?"

Stephanie returned his smile. "Yeah." He laughed and hugged her tightly, kissing her. "Don't say I never warned you though," she added.

John nodded and confessed, "I talk in my sleep."

Stephanie laughed. For the first time in a long time…she laughed.

* * *

John ran to the gorilla as Vince glared at him. "Where the hell have you been?"

John looked at Vince sheepishly as Randy handed him his belt. "Sorry."

"Whatever," Vince said, clearly not in the mood to figure out what John was doing before. "Listen to me…when you get out in that ring, I don't want you to spend all of you energy."

John wanted to laugh, but instead he said, "Why not?"

"We have bigger fish to fry and tomorrow night we're gonna cook 'em," Vince replied sinisterly.

John just nodded as his music hit and he went out there, ignoring the massive boos that filled the arena.

* * *

Trish knocked on the door and opened it slightly as she saw Stephanie picking up papers on the floor. Her eyes searched the office until they laid upon Stephanie. "Did a tornado come through here?"

Stephanie looked up and blushed. "Oh, uh…"

Trish smiled and closed the door, leaning against it. "So, um, John was in a fairly good mood just now even with your father breathing down his neck."

Stephanie stood up. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

Trish laughed. "Stephanie, you never were a good liar." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Looks like you two had fun," she said. "Quite a few times," she muttered. Stephanie ignored her best friend. "So I heard that Paul Heyman made an appearance in the parking lot."

Stephanie's head snapped up and her eyes widened. "What?"

Trish nodded as Stephanie rounded the desk and walked outside quickly with Trish behind her. "He's gone now, Steph."

"What was he doing here?"

Trish shrugged. "I think he was just messing with your father."

"I'm gonna kill him," Stephanie muttered angrily.

"Hey, on a lighter note, sort of," Trish said. "Randy took out Robert."

Stephanie stopped and turned around. She couldn't help but to smirk. "Really."

Trish stared at her. "Steph…did you tell Randy to do that?"

Stephanie only giggled as she walked into the control room with Trish following her.

* * *

From the shadows, Jim Fullington watched Stephanie and dialed a number on his phone. After a few rings, he said, "Yeah…I got her."

On the other line he listened as the voice said, "Take care of her."


	13. Chapter 13

John never imagine this moment; the moment where Stephanie McMahon laid in his arms. He was sure of one thing: he was the luckiest man in the world. After the show they both went to her hotel where they ended up getting many snacks and watching old reruns of Smackdown. Of course, his favorite was that of when Stephanie returned after her fight with Rena onto Summerslam. She looked up at John as he watched with admiration.

"What?" she asked.

He shook his head and smiled at her. "Nothing."

Stephanie frowned and frowned at him. "That didn't sound like nothing to me."

John chuckled. "I just enjoy watching you on television."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "I looked hideous then."

"Please."

Stephanie sighed and went back to placing her head on John's chest. "Did you ever imagine this?" she asked.

"I dreamed of it," John answered.

Stephanie sat up again and looked into John's blue eyes. "No, I mean, not just us."

John raised his eyebrow. "You mean Heyman and ECW?" Stephanie nodded and John shrugged. "Honestly, no. But, seeing what Heyman did with WCW…it's no surprise."

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, I should've seen it coming," she said softly.

John grabbed her chin and kissed her softly. "Don't say that," he told her. "There was no way you, or anyone else, could've seen this."

"It scares me," she admitted.

John frowned, seeing the confusion in her eyes and hearing the fear in her voice. Before now, John never knew Stephanie as someone as confused and broken as she was at that moment. It actually made him love her even more. It was the _real_ Stephanie. The ones the fans never got to see and most of the guys never got to see either.

"We'll take care of it, Steph," he said, hugging her. "We always do."

Stephanie nodded, feeling safe and loved in John's arms. She never imagined that she'd be there with him…as a couple, but it felt good. It felt _right_. "I know," she said softly.

* * *

Stephanie slammed the door to her car and John winced, closing his more gently. "Something wrong?"

Stephanie shot him a glare as they walked over to where her father was standing, just in front of the back entrance of the arena. "Mind telling me exactly what we're doing here?" she snapped at her father.

"We came to show people that we mean business," he answered. He glanced at John then looked at Stephanie, confused. "What's he doing with you?"

Stephanie turned and glanced at John but before she could say anything, a van quickly approached them, and stopped right in front of them. The side doors opened and Paul, Michael, Chris, Adam and Randy all jumped out as Shane shut off the vehicle and stepped out with them. "What the hell is going on?" Stephanie said.

Shane smiled at her. "Hey sis."

Vince cleared his throat. "I had a little run in with Heyman last night," he explained.

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Vince looked at her. "How did you know?"

Stephanie sent him a look. "I do run the show," she snapped. "Now will you just tell me?"

"We're going to invade their show," he said simply. "That's all there is to it."

Stephanie folded her arms over her chest. "And how exactly were you going to do that?"

Vince looked at her as if she were stupid. "By going in through the crowd and jumping into the ring during the main event and creating hell," he explained. "What's so difficult?"

"It's stupid."

"I beg your pardon?"

Stephanie sighed in frustration. "You'll never get in that way without being seen," she said. "Most of the ECW fans don't like us anyways. They'll point you out right then and there."

"So, what do you purpose?"

Stephanie thought for a moment. "I can get in," she said. The guys exchanged looks with each other. "No one cares about me and I can provide the distraction for you all to sneak in and get into the ring."

* * *

"Security needs to be on the lookout," Paul Heyman said on his phone. "I want to make sure no one from the WWE gets in, got it?" He shut his phone and smiled as Kurt walked up to him. "Well, if it isn't my favorite wrestler. How you doing?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap. I'm getting my title shot tonight, right?"

"Oh yes, yes. Of course."

"And no one will interfere."

Paul smiled at him. "Don't worry. None of your old friends will ever make it in here. They won't even try."

Kurt smirked at him. "Then you don't know Stephanie or the McMahon's as well as you think."

Paul watched him walk away and frowned. He opened his phone again and dialed a number. "Yeah. I want you to beef up security again…I don't care, get the fucking SWAT team here then!"

As Kurt made his way into the ring, his smile grew. He'd never actually been cheered before. As he warmed up, he realized that leaving the WWE might've been one of the best decisions of his life. Heyman was right…in this business, who needed friends? His music stopped and he waited for his opponent, Show.

* * *

Vince, John, Adam and Randy waited by one of the crowds entrances, eagerly waiting for Stephanie's plan to kick off. As they were waiting, Vince looked at John, whose attention was on the ring. "Want to explain to me exactly _why_ you showed up with my only daughter?"

John slowly looked at Vince and smiled weakly as Vince's expression darkened.

* * *

Chris smiled as Michael and Paul exchanged looks. "What?" Chris asked, frowning.

"You look like you're about to piss your pants," Paul joked.

"No, I'm just excited," Chris said. "I miss being in the ring actively."

"Just be careful," Shane said. "Heyman and his guys are fucking crazy idiots who act before they think."

"We know," they all said in unison.

* * *

Paul Heyman smiled as he walked down to the ECW ring, basking in the fans cheers. As he entered the ring, he motioned for a microphone. "Fellow ECW wrestlers and fans," he began. Shane and the others rolled their eyes. "The days of the McMahon's or WWE running this show is long over." The crowd roared as John looked around. "I can promise you all, that within a week…WWE will be no more. Just like all those years ago, what was it…eight? Myself and those that stand behind me will take WWE and get rid of it!" He smiled as the crowd cheered again. It was no doubt, half of them were drunk and probably didn't understand a word he was saying, but that wasn't the point. Just as he brought the mic back up, he was cut off as the arena flashed in blue and seemingly unfamiliar music filled the arena.

He turned and his eyes widened as none other than Stephanie McMahon stood on his ramp. He pointed at her as the music died down. "Security, security!"

Stephanie smirked at him. "What's wrong, Paul? Am I that much of a threat to you?"

"_You_," he spat with loath. "How did you get in here?"

"It's a little thing called money, Paul," she snapped. "Obviously, you don't pay your employee's."

"Listen to me you little…"

"Oh, Paul. You can continue with your little rant," she said. "Don't let me interrupt you in any way."

Paul backed off and straightened his tie as he laughed. "You know Stephanie…it wasn't too smart for you to come here alone. Without back up."

Stephanie matched his smirk as she saw Randy and John behind the announcers. "What makes you think I came here alone?"

Paul's eyes widened as Steve Austin's music hit and a giant monster truck entered the arena. He stepped back, turning around to leave the ring, when Randy and John entered the ring, forcing him back the other way. As he backed up, Paul, Michael and the others jumped the barrio and got into the ring as well. As Heyman backed up, Steve jumped out of the truck and got into the ring as well. They all had Heyman boxed in as Stephanie walked up to the ring. While Vince was trash talking Heyman, the crowd began to boo loudly. Once Stephanie entered the ring, she looked around. "Where's _your_ backup, Paul?"

Paul began to plead and shake his head fiercely as Steve gave a look at Vince then hit Heyman with the Stunner followed by Michael's Sweet Chin Music, lying Heyman out for the count. Just as they were about to leave, the ring then became filled with ECW stars and both sides fought each other until the security and police came to the ring to break them up.

* * *

"Did you see the look on his face!" Adamexclaimed.

John laughed. "It was priceless."

Vince nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, I couldn't agree any more. Things went better than expected.

"It was so great," Randy said excitedly. "Just too finally go to their show and kick some ass!"

The group all went to a local club after the ECW show and being kicked out. It was evident that Heyman wasn't happy. Not only were they able to get by security, but they gave him a free ride to the hospital.

Steve slapped a fifty dollar bill on the table and stood up. "All kids, we got a big day coming up so I'm gonna go hit the sack."

Vince looked up at him and nodded. "Alright, good word there Steve."

"Thanks."

Stephanie nodded as well. "Thanks Steve."

He nodded at both of them. "This doesn't change anything though," he said.

"We know," Stephanie said. "You're an arrogant ass."

"And you're a blood sucking bitch," he shot back.

"So glad I'm working with you," she smirked.

"Like wise princess."

They watched as Steve left then Adam stood up. "Yeah, I should get going too. Amy's waiting up."

"All right," Stephanie said, standing up. "Since we're breaking up, we all mine as well go back to our hotels and homes and sleep."

"I agree," Vince said. "I have an early flight tomorrow."

* * *

As Stephanie clicked her alarm on her keychain, John ran up to her and grabbed her, kissing her neck. "John," she giggled.

"What? I missed you tonight," he said. "Not everyone knows about us."

"Yet," Stephanie said.

John laughed and turned her around, pulling her into him and kissing her. "See you tomorrow?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yes. What hotel you saying at?"

"Days Inn."

She blinked. "Are you serious?"

John shrugged. "Yeah. Randy and I will probably hang for a little while longer."

Stephanie nodded. "Okay. But from now on you're staying in nicer hotels."

He smirked at her. "Whatever you say, Princess," he mocked.

She rolled her eyes. "Good night."

"Night."

Stephanie jumped into her BMW and started the car, pulling out of the lot and onto the highway.

Little did she know that her night was just getting started….

* * *

Sorry this chapter was lacking, but the next one gets really good, then we pick up from there :D


	14. Chapter 14

Stephanie switched on the blow dryer and began to dry her hair. She smiled as she thought of her and John becoming an item. The more she thought about it though, the more worried she became over everyone's reaction. She didn't really know why because she didn't care what people thought. But it was nagging her on what her father's opinion would be. He never liked John and his gimmick in the beginning. Stephanie didn't know if her father even liked him at all or if he just liked him for the money he was bringing in. She and Paul had come to be a surprise to her family and friends but they managed to be a powerful couple that everyone eventually got used to. Until they started to fight a lot and go their separate ways in their careers and lives. Then it was ugly. Up until John, Stephanie had given up on finding love. Once you were with someone like Paul Levesque for as long as they were, it was hard to come back from that. She frowned as she shut off the dryer and unplugged it. As she walked into the common room, she heard banging on the door. She glanced at the alarm clock and frowned. It was nearly midnight; what did anyone want?

"Who is it?" she called out.

"Room service," a man's voice said after a long pause.

Stephanie frowned. "I didn't order room service."

Again, another long pause. "You are Stephanie McMahon, aren't you?"

Her frown deepening, Stephanie approached the door and looked through the peephole. The man's voice sounded familiar but his face was shielding from a hat and it looked like he was looking down so Stephanie purposely couldn't see his face. "I'm fine," she said, a little snappier than she attended to be. She watched as the man shifted, then looked up.

"My mistake," he said. "Sorry to bother you." Then he left. Stephanie sighed deeply and pressed her back against the door. She didn't know the kid at all. He was only in his early twenties and just doing his job. _Probably new_ she thought. Boy did Heyman have her high strung. As she walked back in the room her cell phone rang. She picked it up and opened it, pressing it against her ear.

"Hello?"

She heard someone sucking in air and then heard, from a husky voice, "You're very pretty."

She slammed her phone shut and held it to her chest. She looked around and walked up to the window and looked out. She didn't know what she was looking for being on the tenth floor but she began to shake. Acting quickly, she grabbed her purse and keys and ran out of the hotel room.

* * *

As Stephanie ran downstairs in the lobby, she bumped into a man, causing him to drop his bags and give her a dirty look, "Hey!"

But she kept going, quickening her pace, as she hit the button on her keychain and her BMW beeped, flashing its lights. Stephanie opened the door and threw her purse in the passenger seat as her cell phone rang again. Starting the engine, she looked at the screen as it read, 'Unknown Caller'. She threw the phone next to the purse and slammed her door, putting the car into reverse and burning rubber as she switched it to drive and hauled ass out of the parking lot.

As she left the hotel area, another car, a black crown Vic, turned on its lights and followed her slowly.

* * *

John nodded his head and wrote down an address as he had his phone in between his cheek and shoulder. "Yeah, that's right," he said, "under Cena." He looked up as the hotel door clicked and Randy walked in, balancing pizza and beer in his hand as he kicked the door closed. "Yeah, thanks."

John hanged up the phone as Randy smiled at him. "The king of Pizza and beer has returned."

John shot him a look as he opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice. Sitting down, Randy threw him a beer, as he turned up the volume on the basketball game that was showing.

Randy sat in the other chair and laughed. "This is the life."

John raised his eyebrows. "Getting fat from eating greasy pizza and drinking beer?"

Randy nodded and looked at John as if he was clueless. "Yeah." John shook his head. "You know what just occurred to me?"

John popped off his beer cap. "No, what?"

"You're no longer single," Randy said disappointed.

"Jeez, be happier for me, will ya?" John drawled.

"Nah, I mean…we can never go to a strip club."

"Get a life man."

"I'm a celebrity," Randy said. "I don't need one."

John stood up making his way to the bathroom. "You mean you can't have one."

"Dude, you have power."

"What're you talking about?"

"Think what'll happen if you marry Steph," Randy said. "Not only will your bank account double, er, triple. But you'll have so many connections."

John walked back in the room and looked at his best friend. "You mean other than being the champ?"

Randy shook his head. "No, that's only one level."

John nodded, drinking his beer. "Right."

Randy looked at him seriously. "In all honestly though, you really need to give that belt. I need some gold in my life too." John rolled his eyes. "Especially because I'm single," Randy muttered.

* * *

Stephanie had no idea where she was going; but she knew she had to go away. She had bad feeling all night and now she was officially worried, and with good reason. She slowed the car down and rolled up to a red light. Coming to a stop, Stephanie noticed that there wasn't any traffic on the road. For the past five miles or so, she only saw about a dozen vehicles. She looked in her rearview mirror and saw a car approaching beside hers. The same car she saw several miles back. She turned and looked out her tinted windows to see the driver look at her, his window rolled down, as she looked at his black crown Vic. Feeling her stomach turn, she ignored it and faced the road again. That's when another black crown Vic pulled out in front of her, blocking her in slightly. Her eyes widened as she turned to her right and saw the driver pull out a gun and fire at her. The passenger window shattered and blew in the inside as she felt a sting in her arm. Acting on instinct, she slammed the car in reverse, burning the rubber off the tires and slammed it back into drive, turned the car to the left as the Vic's burned rubber as well and followed Stephanie as she sped the car up, using its V-8 engine to her advantage.

Seeing the two identical cars trailing her, Stephanie couldn't help but be grateful for Paul forcing her to watch all those car chasing movies. She never knew it'll come in handy. Jerking the wheel to the left, the car slid and entered an alleyway. It was no secret that she didn't know her way around town; seeing as WWE only came to the town three times in the past six years. Her effective BMW, shining in the moonlight, reached eighty miles as she sped out of the alley way and jerked the car to the left again. Still, the Vic's were behind her, closing in.

Looking around for the street signs, Stephanie found the entrance to the freeway and jumped on it, speeding up to a hundred and ten miles. As Stephanie kept it straight, one of the Vic's reached her speed and came on the side of her. He lifted his gun and fired, hitting everything but her or the windows. Stephanie jerked the car slightly and pressed on the gas harder. The Vic never stopped though as the driver jerked his car to the left and slammed into Stephanie's. She gripped the wheel tight; keeping it grounded on the road as the driver hit her again, but kept his car against hers and pushed it against the cement barrier. Stephanie leaned to her right as sparks flew on the driver side. Acting quickly, she turned the wheel hard to the right and slammed on the brakes. The Vic kept going as Stephanie slammed on the gas again and passed him.

Her sudden stop however gave the second car the time to catch up to her. He hit her from behind, lifting the car up in the back slightly. Stephanie began to lose traction as the car started to swerve. She moved to the right on the off ramp and slowed her speed. She turned to the right and sped up again, only to realize that they were entered a highly constructional zone. She cursed and looked in her mirrors seeing both pairs of the headlights behind her. She hissed in pain as she looked down at her right arm and saw it bleeding badly, soaking her sweatshirt as the blood began to soak the interior.

She suddenly leaned forward, seeing flashing yellow lights, and her eyes widened. Looking behind her, an idea suddenly hit her. She sped up even more; one of the Vic's creeping up to her going beside her once more. Once Stephanie hit the intersection, just before the dead end that lye in front of her, she slammed on the brake and pulled up her emergency brake. The car reacted, its tires locking as it slid on the road, creating a large cloud of burned rubber as the Vic hit the barriers and went over, splashing into the cold lake blow.

Seeing the second Vic come up, she put the car in reverse and began to speed going in reverse. The Vic turned and came head to head with her BMW. Stephanie looked forward and saw the driver grin at her, blowing her a kiss. Stephanie sneered and turned the car to the right suddenly as the Vic's tires screeched and the BMW spun around. Shifting into drive, she hit the gas again passed the Vic, turning back onto the main road. As she reached nearly one thirty, she saw a large tracker truck approaching the intersection; and he had the right of way.

Stephanie decided to take a chance and she pressed harder on the gas. The truck driver blared his air horn as Stephanie's car flew by him like lightning, just nearly missing him. Stephanie exhaled, letting out the breath she had been holding in, as she looked in her mirrors and saw the black crown Vic hit the tracker and blew up, metal and rubber flying in the air, caught on fire. She winced and began to slow down, fighting over whether she should stick around. Deciding against it, she continued to drive, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the wheel tightly.

* * *

Both guys were watching the basketball game when they suddenly heard a loud crash followed by yelling. Randy rolled his eyes. "You need to get better hotels," he muttered.

"No. This keeps my low profile," John said, never taking his eyes off the television.

"Whatever man." They heard banging on his door and both of them exchanged looks. "I answered it last time."

John shook his head and got up, groaning; as he threw open the door. His eyes grew wide as he saw Stephanie standing in front of him, her arm bleeding badly. "Stephanie?"

Hearing her name, Randy quickly got up and joined John at staring at her in disbelief. "My God, what happened?" Randy asked as John led her in.

"I'm sorry," she said weakly. "I didn't know where else to go…"

"Don't worry about it," John said.

Randy looked outside the door and saw Stephanie's car sitting out there, steam and a clear liquid pouring from the engine. He saw the window was blown out and several bullet holes were marking around it. He closed the door and locked it, putting the chain on, as John got some bandages to wrap Stephanie's arm.

"What happened?" Randy asked.

Stephanie didn't look up. "Someone chased me."

"Do you know who?" John asked as he wrapped her arm.

"I…" she breathed in deeply. "I think they were hired guys."

Randy's expression hardened as he muttered, "Heyman."

"What happened to the guys that were following you?" John asked.

Stephanie looked at him, her eyes boring into his as she replied, "They're dead."

Both John and Randy looked at each other as John stood up. "We need to get you to a hospital." Stephanie looked up at him. "You were nicked by what looks like a bullet or something," he explained. "You can bleed to death."

Stephanie nodded. "We need to hurry," Randy said. "If there are more out there, they can track down her car." John nodded in agreement as he grabbed his wallet and keys and they helped her out to his car.

* * *

Vince paced back and forth as they were waiting in the hospital room for the doctor to come back and release Stephanie. She was already sitting up and putting her clothes back on. "Steph, what're you doing?" her brother asked.

Stephanie shot him a look. "What does it look like?"

"The doctor said she'll release you after the tests."

"I didn't need any tests!" she snapped. "I got hurt, they patched me up, and I'm good to go."

Shane looked over at John. "You're her boyfriend, aren't you? Aren't you gonna stop her?"

John said nothing. He just leaned against the wall; his arms crossed, and stared at Shane. Shane shook his head and sighed, walked over to his mother, where she was looking at the pictures of the car. "My God, Stephanie," her mother whispered. Stephanie rolled her eyes as Linda looked up at her. "How did you ever manage to survive this?

"Why are you all making this out to be a huge deal?"

"Because it is," Vince said. "I swear to you, that bastard is going to pay. I'm gonna rip his fucking head off."

"No," Stephanie said. "We're gonna do this smart."

Vince stared at his daughter as she was crazy. "There's nothing to pin Heyman to this."

"I know, but us going insane and Rambo on him isn't smart," Stephanie declared.

Just then, Randy and Adam ran into the room and looked directly at Vince. "We got a problem."

* * *

"They're suing us?!?"

The McMahon's lawyer sighed and looked over at the handful of board members that made it over to Vince's executive suite. "Paul Heyman claims that he, and several wrestlers, has been mistreated while working under the WWE."

"How much are they suing for?" Linda asked.

"Twenty million dollars."

"What?" Vince nearly screamed. Stephanie and Shane winced at his voice as he pounded his hand on the table. "I knew this was going to happen. I fucking knew it!"

"That's not all." Everyone looked back up, with shocked eyes.

"What do you mean that's not it?" Stephanie asked slowly.

"It's not one case," the lawyer said. "There are five."

"Five?" Shane yelled.

Stephanie shook her head. "We can't fight _five_ cases. It's impossible."

The lawyer nodded. "Which makes sense that they'll file the claims all at once." She looked around at everyone in the room. "They're looking to break you and this is a perfect way to do so."

"What're we going to do?" Shane asked. "Even we can't beat this."

Vince shook his head and looked at his family in all seriousness. "We have to make them drop the case."

Shane snorted. "And how the hell are we gonna do that?"

"Well first thing first," Linda said. "There's going to be a war of the fans. We have to get them on our side."

Stephanie nodded. "That will certainly make us look good."

Vince looked at his daughter. "You know what we have to do then, right?" Stephanie nodded slowly. "Are you okay with that?"

"Do I have a choice?" Stephanie scoffed.

"So it's settled then?" the board member asked.

"One more thing," Vince said looking back at his daughter. "I don't want you anywhere near an arena."

"What?" she screeched. "Why the hell not?"

"One, you're injured," he snapped. "And two, Heyman knows you got away. He'll be looking to get a chance to catch you again. I'm not risking your safety!"

"And I'm not sitting in the sidelines!" she shot back.

"Unfortunately, Miss McMahon," Sam, the eldest of the board directors said, standing up. "I have to agree with your father. Putting you back to work with everything going on is a liability."

Stephanie looked at him with shocked eyes. "And you all think this?" she asked, looking around the room. "You all think I'm useless now?"

"No Stephanie," Linda said quickly shaking her head. "Not useless…"

But Stephanie didn't want to hear anymore. She shook her head and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.


	15. Chapter 15

Stephanie poked her head out of the woman's bathroom and looked down the hall. First to the left, then the right. As she let the door close behind her, she pulled up her sweat shirt's hood to cover her face as she walked down the hall. Still looking around as she came upon her office, she glanced both directions real quick and turned the knob, rushing into the office and closing the door behind her quickly and locking it. Before she could breathe in relief, the lights flickered on. Startled, she jumped up, clutching her chest and turned around to see Chris Irvine smirking at her.

With a grunt, Stephanie pulled back her hood and glared at Chris. "What the hell are you doing in my office?"

"Waiting for you to show," he said. Still glaring at him, Stephanie walked around to her desk and opened her drawer. "You're not suppose to be here Stephanie."

"It _is_ my office," she snapped.

Chris rolled his eyes. "You know damn well that your father said you are not to be working. That _includes_ your office."

"Really?" she said snidely, raising her head. "I don't seem to recall him saying anything about my office."

"Stephanie," Chris said lowly. She slowly looked up at him and sighed.

"What do you want from me, Chris?" she asked, exhausted. "You know I cannot function normally without working. It's just not me."

"You almost got killed," he snapped. "Do you actually have to hurt real badly for you to realize how serious this is?"

"We're all at risk."

"Yeah, but you are more than us." Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Please, just do us this one favor, and go back home. Look, tonight's show is here anyways so you'll be close."

She nodded. "All the more reason for me to work anyways. I live here and the show is here tonight so they can just come to my house."

He shook his head. "No, your father already took care of everything. You'll have protection everywhere you do."

Stephanie raised her eyebrow as Chris opened the door. Snorting, she brushed past him, walking out, and muttered, "You're an ass."

* * *

"They suspended me!" Stephanie yelled into the phone.

"Okay, Steph," Trish said on the other line. "One, ow! Two, I am your friend…"

Stephanie sighed. "You're right. Sorry."

"Look honey, what do you expect? You're family is worried about your safety."

"Fine, but why take me away from where protection is anyways?" she argued.

"Look, I don't agree with their methods, Steph," Trish replied. "But it doesn't mean that I don't see their point. And it's first and foremost your safety. It's just like a little vacation."

"Except I have to look both ways every single day."

"Yeah," Trish said softly. "Look, after the show Amy and I will stop by and we'll stay for the night. What'd ya say?"

"You don't have too…"

"Is John coming over?"

"I don't think so…"

"Okay!" Trish squealed. "It'll be a girl's night!"

Stephanie couldn't help but laugh. "Okay. I'll see ya later."

Once she hanged up with Trish, Stephanie walked into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of wine. Pouring herself a glass, she walked into the living room where her big screen television was, as Raw began to air. Already missing it, she sighed heavily, and drank her glass of wine just to pour another.

* * *

"It feels different without Steph here," Levesque said.

"It's for the best," John mumbled.

Paul cocked his eyebrow as they walked together in the back heading to the locker room. "Are ya trying to convince yourself of that or do you really mean it?"

John looked at him. "I really mean it," he said as he opened the door. "The last thing I want to happen is to be worried about her being here. ECW is only a town away so you know he's here."

Paul nodded and patted him of the back. "Look, he won't get away with it, alright?"

John nodded as Randy and Adam walked in and greeted them. As the three were talking, John opened his phone but didn't see any messages or missed calls. Sighing, he threw the phone in his bag and walked out.

* * *

As Raw came back from commercial, Stephanie was lying down on the couch, drifting off to sleep when something suddenly caught her eye. Gasping, she sat up and narrowed her eyes, rubbing them, and saw as the camera cut back to the angle. She quickly snatched her cell phone and dialed a number. Pressing it to her ear, she paused the television as the call connected.

"Hello?"

"Susan," Stephanie said quickly, and loudly.

"Miss McMahon?"

"Yeah, put Mike on."

"Which one?"

"Johnson." After a few seconds a man's voice answered. "Mike, do me a favor. Are you in the control room?"

"Yeah," he said. "What's up Steph?"

"Replay the last minute of camera five."

Doing so, he asked, "What's this about?"

"Pause it and look in the upper right corner of the screen."

He leaned forward. "What am I looking for?"

"That man in the white shirt," Stephanie said, looking at him. "Holding the poster." Mike's eyes widened. "The one that says ECW killed WWE…"

"Yeah…" Mike leaned in closer and saw a picture of Stephanie with a large X slashed across it next to a picture of Batista, the same way.

"Mike…" Stephanie said worried.

"I got it, Steph," he said as he hanged up the phone and jumped out of the trailer, running into the arena. As he ran inside, he ran up to the crew. "Go on commercial and me the security team down here." He pointed to someone else. "You, lockdown the arena. Someone get me Vince!"

* * *

As Randy, Adam and Paul stepped out of the locker room, they saw John and Steve walking up to them from the opposite direction, then they heard shouting and saw Vince coming from the back entrance. As they all met in the middle, security guards ran past them.

Steve shot Vince a look. "What's the big hurry?"

"We supposedly got a tip on someone in the building," he answered.

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Be vaguer, will you?"

Vince shot him a look as Mike approached them, and behind him to guards holding a man. Mike handed Mr. McMahon a poster. "Take a look at this."

Rising an eyebrow, he did, and his eyes widened. Seeing his reaction, the other five leaned over and gasped in shock. On it, was a graphic image of Paul Heyman injuring Batista. Beside that, was a picture of Stephanie's ruined BMW. On the bottom were the pictures of Dave, Stephanie, Adam, Trish, Linda, Paul, Randy, Amy Shane, John, and Vince. The first two had a big red X across them and beneath that were the words, WWE falls.

"Oh my god," Adam muttered. "What fuck sicko…?"

"This is more serious than we thought," Randy mumbled.

Vince looked up from the poster at the man they cuffed. "You did this?" he asked. The man said nothing, just stared at him. "I asked you a fucking question!" Vince yelled, getting in his face. He only laughed.

Just as Vince was about to strangle him, they heard tires squealing. All men turned around to see a black Mercedes pull up beside them. Shutting off the car, Stephanie stepped out, and Vince sighed. "God damn it…Stephanie, why can't you just stay home?"

She glared at him. "Because I called this in," she said, looking at the man.

"You did?" Steve asked.

Stephanie nodded. "I noticed the poster watching the show," she said, seeing the poster on the floor.

"What'd you want to do, Steph?" Mike asked.

Stephanie's eyes glowed in excitement.

* * *

"You have got to be kidding me!" Chris exclaimed.

"What's wrong with it?" Stephanie demanded, placing her hands on hips.

Seeing her glare, Chris swallowed hard. "You're gonna destroy an innocent man out there?"

"No," Stephanie shook her hand. "He's not innocent, and we're not going to hurt him…too badly."

Chris smirked at Stephanie. "God I miss your schemes."

She raised her eyebrow. "Weren't you just yelling at me?"

"No."

She smiled at him and playfully hit him in his arm. He grinned at her as his music hit. Stephanie turned around and looked at the determined faces of John, Adam, Randy, Paul and Steve. As Chris stepped out, Vince came up behind Stephanie and whispered to her, "Make sure they make a statement."

She nodded. "They will." As she turned around to follow her father, she grabbed Steve's arm. "Make sure he bleeds, badly."

He smirked as they walked away and they watched Chris grab the mic in the ring. As the fans quieted, Chris rolled up his sleeves. "It seems," he began. "That Heyman and the ECW think they can do whatever they please on my show. They can scare us, ambush us, sneak onto our show and run their mouths, jump our workers and stars outside the arena and try to run over the owner's daughter in her car." The fans booed and Chris raised his hand. "That's okay because you know what? We survived all that. And tonight, we're going to prove a point." Turning to the ramp, he yelled out, "Bring him out!"

Steve came out in his truck with John and the others following. As he stopped and got out, Adam grabbed the man from the bed and tossed him out. The man hit the ground, groaning, and Paul grabbed him by his cuffs and threw him into John, who grabbed his shirt and tossed him in the ring. As the others entered, Steve began to pace as Paul kicked the man down.

Chris pointed down at him. "This right here is what we're talking about. Heyman…you know who this is. I know you do, because right now you're sitting in your hotel, your jaw to the floor, going 'oh shit'." Lowering the mic, Chris pointed to him and Randy grabbed the man, propping him to his knees as Chris got in his face. "Anything you have to say?" When the man said nothing, Chris hit him with the mic and the others then began to pound on him. Steve, who had gotten out of the ring, tossed a chair to John. After Randy hit him, both Steve and John rushed the man and hit him in the head on either side of his head with the chair. Paul kicked him in his stomach then delivered the pedigree. The fans cheered their approval as Adam threw him out of the ring and bounced his head off the post, which was now bleeding profoundly. Steve pointed to John, and then the car as Adam flipped him onto the hood. Jumping up, John grabbed the man and put him on his shoulders. With a set, determined look, he hit the FU on him, shattering the window as the man fell threw it. The arena exploded as John's music hit after a few minutes and the six men looked as the unconscious man as he laid half in the truck and half out. The camera man panned on the image closely, seeing all the blood, as the wrestlers walked to the back slowly, hearing the fans approval.


	16. Chapter 16

"How long is this going to go on?"

Standing in front of his father, Vince McMahon, Shane folded his arms across his chest and looked down at his father.

"What're you talking about?" Vince asked, looking up at his son through his glasses.

"Keeping Stephanie out of work!" Shane snapped. Vince sighed and leaned back, taking off his glasses. "It's been two months!"

"I know…"

"And this damn war with ECW isn't going away," he added.

"What do you want me to do about it?" Vince yelled. He got up and closed his office door. "I'm battling two of the lawsuits that Heyman put on us while running the two shows, trying to keep our fans loyal to us. But with ECW stars attacking ours every week and injuring them, it's hard."

"Then bring Stephanie back," Shane said. "Let us help. You and Mom are taking up all the slack."

"You know I can't bring her back on my own," he said. "It has to be run through the board…"

"Screw the board! What have they done for us?" Shane said. "You know damn well if we bring Stephanie back she'll help us put an end to this. We're stronger when were together."

* * *

Just as Stephanie placed her dinner in the microwave, the doorbell rang. She sighed in annoyance. "Maria!" She heard nothing. Looking up towards the staircase she yelled out again. "Maria, get the door!" Still, she was nowhere in sight. Huffing, she stalked to the front door while muttering, "Fucking people…what the hell do I pay her for…" She threw the door open and glared at the men standing on her doorstep. "What?"

"Are you Stephanie McMahon?"

"Who's asking?"

The man handed her a piece of paper and flashed his badge. "I'm detective Wright and we have a warrant to search your home and office," he said, as he let himself in.

Reading the paper as the other officers came through, she looked up. "What're you looking for?"

"Illegal substances," he said, going upstairs.

"What-?" Crumpling the paper she walked back into the kitchen and grabbed her phone.

"What are you doing?" another officer asked her.

"Calling my lawyer," Stephanie snapped. The female officer reached and snatched the phone from her. "Hey!"

"Turn around and place your hands on your head."

Stephanie glared at her. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

"I don't give a shit."

The other officer grabbed her roughly and threw her against the counter. "I have rights!" Stephanie yelled. "I'm gonna fry each and every one of you," she sneered.

"Looky what I found," Wright said, stepping back into the room.

Stephanie turned as they placed the cuffs on and saw him holding a bag of white powder. "That's not mine."

"That's what they all say."

"You planted that you fucking bastard!" she shouted.

"Book her," he said, walking away.

"You're not cops at all!"

She fought with them as they led her outside. Kicking on the officers, she felt something pressed into her back and she froze. "I suggest you stop resisting," the female cop whispered.

* * *

As Vince and Shane walked down the hallway, they passed an officer in uniform. Rounding the corner, they saw Stephanie's office was filled with cops and it was being torn apart. "Hey!" Vince said, walking in. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Who are you?"

Vince looked at the man dressed in a suit and glared at him. "Who the fuck are you?"

The man raised his suit, showing his gun and badge. "Just take it easy…"

"What are you doing in here?"

"We're investigating…"

"Just what exactly?"

"Stephanie McMahon."

"Why?" Shane asked.

The man looked at them. "Just who are you two?"

In a rage, Vince turned and stormed out of the office and headed down towards his secretary. "What are the cops doing here?"

"They had a warrant," she said softly. Cursing, Vince turned and walked as she called out. "Stephanie's lawyer called." They turned around. "She was placed under arrest for drugs."

* * *

Sitting in a corner, Stephanie looked up as an officer stepped up and unlocked the door. "Let's go, McMahon."

Getting up, she walked out as the other female prisoner, grinned at her. Rolling her eyes, Stephanie followed the cop and walked out. As she grabbed her belongings, she saw her family and John waiting for her. The second they saw her, John hugged her.

"You alright?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head and looked at her father. "I'm getting sick of this shit."

He stood up, nodding. "I know. They saw they have evidence though and it'll go to court. It won't look good for us."

"I have evidence of my own," she snapped, walking out, leaving them to exchange looks. As they followed Stephanie, the officer at the counter stopped them and looked at John.

"My son's a big fan of yours," he said, handing him pen and paper. "Think I can get an autograph?"

John walked up to him, grabbing the pen and paper, and then grabbed him by the collar. "Why don't you and your buddies go fuck off?" he sneered, throwing the paper and pen at him. Walking out, they never gave a second glance.

* * *

Opening night for Raw in Tampa wasn't going to well. In the first ten minutes of going live, Paul Heyman found a way to sneak into the building and get into the ring. Bringing the microphone up, he addressed the crowd. "Now, I won't take up much of you time. I only came here to clear a few things up. You see, on my way down here to the sunshine state, I heard some rumors. Supposedly, the car accident that one Miss Stephanie McMahon was in…well, they want to blame _me_ for that. So I want to take the time and clear the air. I _was not_ involved in that." The fans booed, but Heyman was unfazed. "Now that that's out of the way…the second rumor I heard was that Stephanie McMahon was arrested a few days ago. For drug possession. Turns out…it's true!" He pointed to the screen and on it was Stephanie's police photo. The fans booed loudly while some laughed. "Ladies and gentlemen, I can assure you because of this arrest, that the WWE will soon be mine, no question." The fans began to boo even louder. "Oh, you know what?" he said, before he left the ring. "I forgot one more thing…this one is for all you _Cena _fans. Turns out 'The Champ' is not so single as you thought." Grinning, he turned to the screen to see a picture of John and Stephanie, holding hands and kissing. This time, the crowd was stunned into silence.

Watching in the back, Randy's jaw dropped as Amy came from behind him to see. "Oh my god," he muttered.

Seeing the picture, John stared. "Oh shit…"

Watching in her house, Stephanie raised her hand to her mouth and whimpered. "Oh no…"

Sitting in his office, Vince and Linda glared at the screen, Vince silently fuming as Linda whispered, "Oh dear…"

Heyman laughed in the ring.

* * *

Storming out of his office, Vince stalked down the corridor screaming, "Where's Cena?"

Adam and Randy both ran from the back and caught up with their boss. "Vince!"

He whirled around. "Where's your friend?" he demanded.

"Look, you need to calm down," Adam said slowly. "It was a shock and you're not thinking clearly."

Vince grabbed him and shoved Adam on the wall. "Where is he?"

"Vince!" Randy yelled, grabbing him. "You need to chill out."

Throwing Randy off of him, Vince stalked back the hall and kicked open the males locker room door to find John standing there. "You!"

Throwing up his hands, John backed away. "Vince…"

"You were fucking my daughter behind my back?"

John shook his head. "No!"

Randy and Adam ran into the locker room and skidded to a stop as Vince slowly closed on John, who had his back against the wall.

"Yes you were," Vince hissed. "I trusted you and I trusted her and the both of you lied to me!" he yelled, throwing a chair and breaking it.

"Vince, we never slept together!"

"Is she pregnant?"

John's eyes widened. "What? No!"

"Is she?" he shouted, his eyes wild. "_Were_ you two doing drugs?" John swallowed hard and Vince punched him, sending John to his knees. Randy and Adam jumped in and grabbed Vince, pulling him back, as John got back up, holding his jaw.

"We didn't do anything," John said again.

In a rage, Vince threw both men off of him and jumped at John, hitting him again. This time, John went on the offensive, and slammed him into the locker. Stepping away, Randy and Adam went to offer help to Vince, but he got up on his own, and glared at John. "Consider yourself fired," he spat. "Get your shit and get out."

"Gladly," John shot back as Vince opened the door.

He turned back to him. "You're never to see my daughter again."

John smirked at him. "She's a grown woman," he said. "You can't keep us apart."

This time, Vince grinned at him. "Then she'll have to choose."

John watched him leave and he shook his head as Randy came from behind him. "You alright?"

John looked at his friends, concerned. "He wouldn't really make her choose between me and her family?" he asked. "Would he?"


	17. Chapter 17

John sat at a local diner, drinking his coffee, and thinking deeply about his relationship with Stephanie. They had been dating for a little over two months, and he was serious about it. He had never felt so much love for Stephanie in his life; she was truly something. But he never intended to get fired from his dream job either. While he wasn't broke, he was no longer a working member of the WWE. Raw had already gone two weeks without him and the title was still up in the air. Randy had called him a couple of times and gave John the scoop on what was going on and that the show wasn't the same without him or Stephanie, but John remained unconvinced. Catching his attention he looked outside as Stephanie pulled up to the diner. He smiled as he watched her get out and walk in to find him.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hey."

"You look good."

She raised her eyebrow. "We just saw each other last night."

John frowned. "So?"

"So…why are you sounding like that?"

"Like what?"

"_That_," she said. "Weird."

"I'm not sounding weird."

Stephanie nodded. "Yes you are."

John shrugged. "Probably being unemployed."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and leaned back in the booth. "Yeah…that'll drive you crazy."

"How's the case going?"

"Slow."

"How come you're not bringing out the big guns and getting this over with?" he asked.

"Because when I blast Heyman," she replied. "I want it to hurt. The more I drag it out and make it look like he's winning, the better it'll go for me."

"I don't understand exactly what this'll do."

"Get our jobs back for one."

"You mean yours?"

"No," she said, shaking her head, "I mean _ours_. I'm not going back without you."

John sighed. "Stephanie, there's no way your father will ever let me back. He feels like I betrayed his trust because we never told him about us."

Stephanie waved him off. "It's just my father."

"Ju-just your father," he said, shocked. "Steph, the guy went Scarface on me!"

"John, Heyman started all of this. It's repairable."

He raised his eyebrow. "Oh really?" She nodded. "When was the last time that he called you?"

"Who?"

"Your father?" She bit her lip. "That's what I thought," he said, as he got up and walked out. A few moments later, rolling her eyes and groaning inwardly, Stephanie did the same.

"John…"

Standing by his car, he turned around and shot her a look. "Steph, I'm getting sick of this shit."

"What're you talking about?"

"You!" he yelled. "You're practically hot and cold! Don't know if I'm coming or going."

"Where is this coming from?" she demanded.

"Hell if I know! I'm just getting sick of sitting at home when all I do is think!"

"This is Heyman," Stephanie reasoned. "He knows exactly where to hit…"

"Bull's-eye!" Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "I feel like this whole relationship has been one-sided!"

"It hasn't!" she shouted in defensive.

"Well, sure feels like it," he shot back, getting in his car.

"You know what?" He glared at her as he started his sports car. "Fuck you, John."

"No, fuck you," he snapped, pulling out of the driveway and turning on the road. Groaning, Stephanie got in her car, slamming the door, and started the engine. Adjusting her mirror, she saw a black Vic sitting across the street, the driver watching her closely. Cautiously, she backed out, and went down the same path as John, heading home.

* * *

Vince watched a rerun of ECW when he heard the doorbell ring. Ignoring it, he focused on watching Angle and Show compete, trying to figure the best opponent to fight them for the upcoming PPV.

"Vince?" Linda called.

"In here." Linda walked in and cleared her throat. Vince paused the television and turned around, narrowing his eyes from the sight of John. "What is this?"

John held up his hands. "I only want to talk to you."

Vince growled and Linda rolled her eyes. "Just hear him out, Vince. It can't hurt."

He stared at Cena then finally nodded as Linda took a seat next to him. "Remember when you asked if Steph and I slept together?" He nodded. "Well…I lied to you…not intentionally," he added quickly, sensing Vince's anger. "Just…you know."

"So you did."

John nodded. "Yes. I few times…in her office." He groaned and shook his head. "But…it just happened."

"So…you two are an item?" Linda asked slowly.

John nodded. "But, I gotta tell you, Heyman really has it in for her."

Vince frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well think about it. First, the chase; then the setup, and then telling the whole world that she slept with me. He knew it would cause it rift with you two and now he's working on us."

Linda raised her eyebrow. "Working…what do you mean?"

"He followed us," John said simply. "He's been watching me and Stephanie for the past week. I know he's planning something big, but I don't know what."

"Besides the company take over?" Vince shot, standing up.

John shook his head. "Nah, see…he's coming at it from different angles, and he's making sure that he's covering his tracks…" John smiled and pulled out a tape, throwing it at Vince, who caught it in mid air and looked at it. "But not all of it."

"What's this?" he asked.

"That's what's going to blow Stephanie's case wide open," John said proudly. "You never told me how much of a schemer your daughter is, Vince."

* * *

Four days later, Vince was sitting in the back, watching the screen eagerly. If WWE won this match between ECW, it could prove to be the beginning of the downfall of ECW…again. But so far, things weren't looking too good. Levesque knocked Show out of the ring earlier, leaving him and Randy to take on Kurt. But once Show came back, he took out both WWE stars within ten seconds. The match had been going on for a good twenty minutes and the superstars were starting to tire. "Come on, come on, come on," he whispered as Kurt began to climb the top rope. Then his eyes widened when he saw John came running from the back towards the ring. "What the-?" John jumped onto the ring and pushed Kurt off. He fell off the top ring post and hit the barrier. This gave Paul enough time to his Show then Randy to land his RKO. Paul covered the giant and WWE got the win. Not realizing what happened, John jumped off the ring and watched them celebrate as he jumped in the crowd and disappeared.

* * *

As John walked out of the building, had a feeling that he was being watched. Looking behind him, he saw a few of the ECW stars slowly following him. He turned back around and looked around, searching for his options. Realizing he didn't have many, he took off sprinting, the ECW guys close behind. He hoped over the fence and hit the pavement and took off running faster, but the ECW men were closing in. As fast as John was, they seemed to be faster. As he reached the intersection of the road, he came to a stop when he realized he didn't have the light to cross over, and traffic was blocking his way. He turned just as the guys caught up, and heard a car's engine behind him. Running again, he took the chance and darted across the street as a Mercedes came speeding past him and screeched to a halt on the sidewalk, the passenger door opening. The ECW men watched as John jumped in the car and it took off. They stopped and cursed to themselves as they turned around and headed back to the arena.

Stephanie glanced over at John who was panting. "You alright?"

"Yeah," he said. "I just haven't ran in awhile."

She giggled and grabbed his hand with, squeezing it. He looked at her and smiled as she pulled onto the highway. "You realize that we won't be able to see much of each other now, right?"

John nodded as he put on his seatbelt. "I know."

Stephanie glanced at him. "Are you okay with that?"

"Honestly?" She nodded. "No. I'm not comfortable with this plan at all but I know it won't change anything."

"It won't," she agreed. "It has to be done." He nodded and looked out the window. "I don't need you to worry about me, John. I've done this before."

"It's different now."

"How?"

"Because I'm your boyfriend," he said. "Not Levesque, not Andrew…whatever his name was…"

Stephanie laughed and John shot her a look. "Everything will be fine. All you have to do is play your part…"

"Yeah…"

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Trust me, okay?"

He looked at her. "That's what scares me the most," he whispered, looking away. "Trusting you McMahon's."


	18. Chapter 18

Dave looked at Stephanie and Trish as they stood near the window in his hospital room. Still going over what Stephanie had told him, he tried to logically figure out everything in his mind.

"You okay?" Trish asked softly, so Stephanie couldn't hear. Not that she could because she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

Dave nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm just still trying to understand the logical behind it all…"

Stephanie looked at her. "It'll take awhile to understand fully, Dave."

He looked at her. "What you're asking of me…"

She shook her head. "It could change. It might."

"How?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. That's the one bad thing about this plan."

Trish nodded. "She's right. There's no true failsafe."

"But if we're going to do this," Stephanie added. "I need to know that you're with me…no matter what."

Dave nodded without hesitation. "Of course I am."

Trish looked at him closely. "You know what she's asking, right?"

He swallowed and nodded again, slowly. "Yes." He turned his gaze to Stephanie. "Once I get out, I'm making a statement. I want everyone to know around the world that the Animal is back."

Stephanie gave him a small smile. "Trust me, Dave," she told him. "_Everyone_ will know you're back."

* * *

"What the fuck was that stunt you pulled last week?" Vince demanded of John.

Cena, Randy, Levesque and Adam all stood in Vince's office like little kids guilty of picking on the 'nerd'. "I was asked to do it," John said smartly.

"Who?" Vince demanded as Shane looked up from his father's desk, choosing to stay out of the argument.

"Your daughter," John replied.

"Really?" Vince was seconds from having a mental breakdown. "And where _is_ Stephanie?" John shrugged. Vince's eyes narrowed and he looked at the other guys, who shrugged as well. "You honestly expect me to believe that?" Vince asked John. "That you have no clue as to the whereabouts of my daughter."

John frowned and anger flashed in his blue eyes. "She broke up with me thanks to you," he sneered. "I don't owe you a fucking thing."

"You're under contract," Vince snapped. "Tell me again that you don't owe me anything."

John got into his bosses face this time. "I don't owe you anything," he said slowly. "Since you're just like your daughter, I'll _show_ you that tonight."

Adam and the others watched as John stormed out of the office, slamming the door. Vince took a deep breath, trying to control his temper as he turned to the others. "I'm going to ask once," he said softly. "Where is Stephanie?"

The three men all looked at each other then back at Vince. "We don't know," Paul answered.

Before Vince could say anything, Randy raised his hands and said, "Honestly. We haven't heard from her since last Monday."

Vince growled and turned to Shane. "What about you?"

Shane only shook his head and Vince cursed and stomped out of the room. The four men each exchanged glances.

* * *

Paul Heyman sat at his desk in his office in Florida preparing for the Tuesday night show of ECW. Thisweek he was determined to make an impact. He had too. He smiled though. He had taken so many of Stephanie's best wrestler's, he couldn't help but be proud of himself. Stephanie was so smug it sickened him. He had taken Big Show right out from under her nose. Then her best friend, Kurt Angle, followed by Chris Benoit; he had been looking to take Edge and then Cena, but they were far to close to her for him to get. But in the war between the two brands, it didn't matter to him. He'd win and he was sure of it.

A knock came at his door and he looked up as his sercuirty man gave him a worried, yet annoyed, look. "Mr. Heyman, Stephanie McMahon is here."

His eyes widened as the young brunette passed the man a smiled and walked in. The man rolled his eyes and closed the door as Stephanie grinned at Paul. "Stephanie…what are you doing here?"

"Well, first of all," she said, taking a seat, "I wanted to thank you for making my personal life a living hell."

He smiled. "Well then you're greatly welcome…"

"Secondly," she said, throwing a large envelope on the table. "I wanted to strike a deal with you."

Raising an eyebrow, Paul opened the envelope and smiled gleefully, pulling out a large sum of cash. "If this is meant to be a bribe, Stephanie, then I'm afraid no money will stop me from destroying you, your family, and your business."

She matched his smug look. "It's not," she told him. "It's a down payment."

Heyman frowned. "For what?"

"ECW."

His frowned deepened. "What are you talking about?"

Stepahnie's expression turned dead serious. "I want to be a silent partner."

* * *

Before his scheduled match with Eddie that night, John decided to take things into his own hands. Grabbing a mic, his music hit as he made his way to the ring, looking around at the fans that cheered for him, still hearing some of the boos mixed within the crowd. As he jumped in the ring, he skipped his normal ring entrance and went straight towards his speech. He held his title up over his head.

"I've been Champ for about a year now," he said. "Been in the company for about four years." Bring the belt back down to his side, he looked around. "I'm still considered the new kid around here and I've sit in the back for the past few weeks and watching as ECW, week after week after week, beat down on WWE! They've already made Steph retire early," he half joked. "They made Vince piss his pants every week. I mean, let's face it…Heyman's smart. He attacked the company when Vince is starting to lose his mind…as well as control of his bodily functions," he added as the crowd laughed.

In the back, Vince seethed, watching Cena rant on.

"Heyman stole Angle and Show from Raw, right under his nose," John continued. "He provoked an attack on Stephanie McMahon, nearly killing her, then weeks later, had her arrested. And what did Vince do? Not a damn thing. What did the company do? _Fired_ her! The only action that _any_ of the McMahon's did was to make sure that I never saw her again." He chuckled slightly. "What I'm tryin' to say is that I'm done. Consider this my resignation," he said, laying his belt down, and dropping the mic. The crowd was shocked into silence as John stepped out of the ring and walked into the back.

Vince's jaw dropped as the men in the locker room watched the scene unfold. Steve was the first to speak. "Our champion didn't actually…"

"Quit?" Randy finished. Steve nodded. "Yeah," he said dryly. "I think he did."

* * *

Heyman watched the show as it switched to commercial and looked at the smirking Stephanie, still unsure. "You postivie this'll work?"

Stephanie, still smiling, nodded. "It'll work," she said confidently. "I _am_ a McMahon after all," she added. "Screwing others over is what I do so well."

Heyman rolled his eyes. "No shit," he muttered.


	19. Chapter 19

"Their WWE title is vacant now," Heyman said as he sat down on his couch in his fancy lodge. Standing across from him, leaning against the wall, Stephanie nodded.

"Yeah," she said, partially annoyed since Heyman had not dropped the subject since Monday night.

He narrowed his eyes. "And you expect me to believe that you had no influence in Cena, at all?"

Stephanie sighed, rolling her eyes. "I never denied it while at the same time I never told John to do that."

Heyman shook his head. "I'm having a hard time understanding your reasoning behind this."

"What is so hard?" Stephanie asked, losing her patience. "The WWE title is now vacant. My father will have to schedule a match next Monday between several of the stars to that the title does not stay vacant."

Heyman nodded, following along. "Right…"

"Well, I know for a fact that you have Huffman signed to ECW," Stephanie told him. Heyman's eyes widened slightly, surprised. Stephanie bit back a smile. _Gotcha. _

"Your point?"

"I can rigger the outcome draft for the title and get Booker in. From there, it's up to him to win the title."

"And if he does then he comes to ECW," Heyman said, catching on. Stephanie smirked and nodded. "I love it," Heyman exclaimed. "Brilliant."

* * *

"He's a fucking moron," Stephanie scowled as she drove her car down the highway.

On the other line, Paul laughed. "What did you expect, Stephanie?"

She shook her head, sighing, and looked in her rear view mirror. "I don't know but I honestly thought that over the years he'd get smarter."

Again, Paul laughed. "Did you ever watch Smackdown after you left?"

"No."

"Well look in the archives," he said. "Then you won't be so surprised."

Stephanie laughed. "Okay, listen, I'm coming up to my brother's house now. I'll give you a call back."

"Alright," Paul said on the other end. "Be careful."

Stephanie smiled as she reached for the phone. "You know me."

* * *

As she pulled off the highway, Stephanie drove another two miles before she made another turn and went down a private road. When she reached the neighborhood, she slowly drove up to her brothers three story house and pulled into the driveway, parking her Mercedes next to the white Lexus sitting in the driveway. As she stepped out, she looked at the car, and then at the house, figuring that Marissa was home and Shane was out.

As she walked up to the front door, reaching for the doorbell, she noticed that the door was slightly open. Bending down, she touched the knob lightly and the door creaked open. Creasing her eyebrows, she inaudibly slipped in and looked in.

"Marissa?" she called out, shutting the door slowly and looking around.

Not hearing either of the two kids or Marissa, Stephanie frowned and walked up the stairs. Once she hit the landing, she looked to her right, swearing that she had heard whimpering. Moving towards the sound, she looked in one of the boys rooms and saw that it was tore up. She looked around to see the television had been thrown off the stand and smashed on the floor. The bed was turned upside down and the dresser flipped over and clothes and toys scattered about. Beginning to get worried, she quickly left the room and ran into the master bedroom. Hearing the soft weeping, Stephanie entered the room, but saw no one. Moving to where the balcony glass window was, she saw Declan holding Kenyon in the corner, crying. Her frown deepening, she knelt next to the boys and looked at them.

"Are you okay?"

Slowly, Declan nodded as his brother continued to cry. "What happened?" Stephanie asked.

"Mommy," Declan said. Stephanie frowned. The young boy pointed towards the bathroom as Kenyon sobbed louder.

Looking over the bed, she gave the boys one last glance, before getting up and moving to the bathroom slowly. Her heart pounding in her chest, she slowly opened the door to the bathroom and gasped, all the color draining from her face.

"Oh god," she cried, covering her mouth with her hands.

* * *

"Please tell me that you have some kind of master plan," Randy said to his best friend.

John just shook his head. "Nope."

Randy sighed, shaking his head. "You're a fucking idiot."

John laughed at the comment. "When the time comes, you'll understand."

"Why are you being so cryptic?" he asked in a sharp tone. "What is it that's so top secret that you and Steph can't tell me?"

John shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Randy shook his head. "I hate you."

* * *

Adam and Amy pulled into the restaurants parking lot where they were to meet Trish, Randy and John. "I just can't believe him," Adam was saying.

Amy rolled her eyes. "How much more are you going to go on with this?"

Adam looked at his girlfriend as they walked inside. "Are you telling me that you're not surprised? At all?"

She shrugged. "I'm saying that you guys are making it out to be such a big deal."

"Because it is!" Adam cried. "He's been a champ for so long…you don't just give it up."

"You all told him that it was time to let others get a shot though," Amy reminded him.

He shook his head and greeted John and Randy as Trish walked in. After their greetings, they ordered a table, and all got comfortable. Amy and Trish sat next to each other, Amy next to Adam, Adam next to Randy, and John in between Trish and Randy. They made their orders and took up light conversation.

"So, how are things with you and Stephanie?" Amy asked John.

He took a sip of his water. "Um…I don't think we're together anymore."

"What?" Trish asked, clearly shocked.

John nodded. "Yeah. I haven't spoken to her in awhile and Vince pretty much made his opinion clear to us."

"Geez," Amy garbled.

"But, I don't know," John said. "I mean, technically, I no longer work for Vince, or the WWE, but Stephanie is so obsessed with taking down Paul…"

"What're you gonna do?" Adam asked.

"Probably go back home for awhile," John answered. "Let things cool down and give Steph the space and time that she needs."

Trish nodded, rubbing his back to comfort him. "I think that's not a bad idea."

Randy shook his head. "I don't know. Wouldn't it be better if you _were_ around?"

"Why?"

Randy shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "Well, I mean with things getting violent, I wouldn't just leave. Especially because Stephanie is a target."

"She doesn't work for her father anymore," John reminded him. "Even if I didn't leave, I can't be around her twenty four seven. You know how Stephanie is with bodyguards."

"But you're her boyfriend," Amy reminded him.

Slowly, John shook his head. "I don't know about that anymore."

* * *

As Shane sped towards his house, he slammed on the brakes seeing all the cop cars and ambulance in his driveway. Shutting off his car, he quickly jumped out and looked around in alarm. He noticed that Marissa's car was still there and beside it was Stephanie's. He rushed up to the door but an office blocked his path.

"Sorry, but you can't go in."

"I live here," Shane said, pushing his way in.

As he walked in, he saw many of the men looking around. Hearing voices upstairs, he ran up the stairs and into his bedroom, where he saw his two sons sitting on the bed, playing their video games. His eyes switched to Stephanie and his throat suddenly became very dry. Stephanie's face was pale, drained of color. There were dark circles under her eyes and her shirt and hands were covered in dried blood. She had evidently been crying for a long time before Shane had gotten there.

"What happened?" he managed to ask.

His sister only shook her head as more tears fell down her face. "Shane," she whispered.

The tone in her voice scared him to death as he walked further in the room. "What happened?" he asked again, more sternly. He walked over to his sister and looked at the Detective who was taking her statement. He looked in the bathroom and his eyes widened. The whole floor and shower was filled with blood. His eyes snapped at his sister. "Where's Marissa?" he asked painfully.

She looked at him wretchedly. "They took her to the hospital," she said delicately.

Without vacillation, Shane ran out of the room and down the stairs, outside, ignoring Stephanie calling his name. As he ran to his car, he ignored his parents, who began to ask him what was going on. Instead, he jumped back into his car and sped off.

As Vince and Linda walked into the house, they saw Stephanie walked down the stairs with Declan's hand in hers and carrying Kenyon in her other arm. "What happened?" Linda asked her daughter softly.

Stephanie shook her head and bit back a sob as she put Kenyon down. "Go ahead and get in my car," she told the boys. Declan nodded and grabbed his brother's hand, leaving the adults.

"Stephanie…"

She shook her head. "I came here to go out to lunch with Marissa and the boys," Stephanie began to explain. "And when I got here, the door was open. I went upstairs and the boys were huddled in a corner, crying, and Declan pointed to the bathroom." She began to cry and shook her head slowly. "There was so much blood…"

Vince cursed under his breath as Linda squeezed his hand. "Is she…?"

"I don't know," Stephanie alleged. "I'm going to take the boys to Chris's house since he's here with his parents," she told them. "Then I'm heading to the hospital."

Vince nodded. "Alright, we'll go there now."

Before they turned around, Stephanie grabbed her father's arm, stopping them. "Dad…" He grabbed her and hugged his daughter tightly. "You don't think…"

He shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "But none of us is safe right now."


	20. Chapter 20

Stephanie sped into the driveway and her tires squealed as she came to a stop. Throwing the door open, she shut off the engine and jumped out, opening her back doors and pulling the kids out as Chris came running outside.

"Stephanie," he said, coming down the walkway. "What the hell is going on?"

As she turned around, he saw the blood on her shirt and his eyes widened. She handed him Shane's younger son and said, "I don't have time explain."

"What do you mean you don't have time to explain?" he demanded, taking the boys.

Stephanie glared at him, slamming the door shut. "I don't have time! I have to get to the hospital."

Watching her jump back into the car, he only shook his head as he watched her helplessly pull out, and speed away.

* * *

Shane ran into the emergency room and went directly to the desk. "Did a Marissa McMahon come in here?"

The nurse at the desk glared at him. "Sir," she said, holding the phone to her ear. "You will have to calm down and wait a minute…"

Shane slammed his fist down on the counter, causing the woman to jump. "I won't calm down and I won't wait!" he yelled. "Now where the hell is Marissa?"

She slowly hanged up the phone and peered at Shane. "Listen…" she said slowly.

"You listen to me you overpaid bitch," he snarled, pointing his finger at her. "Do you have any fucking clue who am I?"

She narrowed her eyes at him again. "I'm calling security."

"Shane!"

Before he could do or say anything else, Shane turned and saw his father and mother standing a few feet from him, staring at him. He frowned and quickly walked over them. "How'd you get here?"

Vince glanced at his wife first before looking at Shane. "We went to the house. Stephanie was there and she told us what happened."

"Where is she?"

"In surgery," Linda answered.

Shane looked at his parents, worried, before Vince said, "She'll be alright. She's a fighter."

Shane nodded, but he wasn't very convinced. "Who did this?" he asked furiously.

Linda shook her head while Vince shrugged. "We don't know," he answered softly.

"I think I might," he said under his breath, gritting his teeth angrily.

Vince raised his hands in attempt to calm his son down. "No, now don't assume anything," he said. Shane looked at him with wide eyes. "Trust me," his father said. "We'll find out, but we're doing it the smart way."

"And what way is that?" Shane challenged.

"We're using the one person who's in the deepest."

Before Vince could continue, the doctor walked out, and approached them. He first looked at Vince and Linda, then at Shane. "You must be the husband." Shane nodded. "You're wife is out of surgery."

"Will she be okay?"

The doctor shook his head before saying, "We won't have an answer to that for a few hours, maybe days. I think all went well but there was a lot of blood loss."

"Can I see her?"

"Sure," he said, leading the way. "I'll show you."

As Shane left behind the doors, Stephanie came running down the hall towards her parents. "What's going on?" she asked out of breath.

"Marissa just came out of surgery," Linda told her daughter.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"We don't know yet."

Vince looked at Stephanie, his expression serious. "We need you to do something."

She nodded. "Anything."

He shook his head. "You're not going to like it."

She raised her brow. "What it is?"

"We need you to find out if Heyman or ECW is behind this," he said slowly.

Stephanie's eyes first widened and then she shook her head. "No…"

"Stephanie…"

"No!" she said. "I don't want to…" she took in a deep breath. "I saw her," she said softly. "I found her. I can't do that. I just…"

"You're the only one," Linda said softly. Stephanie looked at her mother with sad eyes. "You're the only one," she repeated.

* * *

Heyman sat in his office, on his computer, when the door suddenly burst opened. Looking up, he saw a very pissed off Stephanie McMahon walking up to his desk.

"Did you do it?"

Stopping his work, he leaned back, and looked at her in confusion. "Did what?"

"Did you order the hit?" she asked.

Heyman shook his head slowly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

In a rage, Stephanie slammed down the police pictures of Marissa's bloody body in the bathroom. "Don't fucking lie to me," she growled, shoving the pictures at him. Looking up at Stephanie, he sighed, and glanced at the pictures. "So?"

"I didn't order the hit," he said slowly. Before Stephanie had a chance to sigh in relief he added, "I did it myself."

Stephanie stopped breathing. She looked down at Heyman's smirking face as he tossed the pictures back at her, and the room around her began to spin, the colors blending in with one other. "Why?" she managed to choke out.

Heyman shrugged. "I needed to make a statement," he told her. "Having you as an ally now doesn't really scream. It's gets people's attention, yes, but with your family…" he shook his head.

"You didn't need to do that," she said between gritted teeth. "Marissa was innocent!"

Once more, he smiled at her. "It was a test."

She raised her eyebrow. "For me?"

He nodded. "I wanted to see if you were going to rat me out to your family. But you didn't…"

She nodded, slowly biting her lip. "You nearly killed her…just to see if I was loyal?"

He shrugged. "Who's to say that she's dead now?" Stephanie glared at him when another presence entered the room. Stephanie turned and immediately regretted it. Kurt Angle.

"You wanted to see me?"

Heyman nodded and grinned. "I believe you two met," he said smugly.

Stephanie rolled her eyes while Kurt said, "Yeah, why's she here?"

"She'll be here for awhile," Heyman said, standing up. He looked directly at Stephanie before asking her, "Would you mind stepping out for a little bit?"

Nearly growling, she nodded in agreement, and left the room, quieter than she intended to be. Watching her leave, Kurt turned to Heyman. "What was that about?"

Heyman smiled at Angle. "Stephanie is going to help us."

"With what?"

"Capture the Vacant WWE title tomorrow night," he told him. "Once I'm sure that we're in position to take down the McMahon's and the WWE…I'll take care of Stephanie…_for good_."


	21. Chapter 21

"You alright?"

Dave turned around to see Stephanie looking at him, concerned. "Yeah," he nodded. "It's just not everyday that you con over a dozen people."

"You'll pull it off," Stephanie assured him.

Dave inhaled deeply. "I sure hope so."

Looking past the curtain, Stephanie saw the fans gather in the arena waiting for the show to kick off. Looking at her watch, she saw that it was ten minutes until the dark matches would start on Raw. "I'll be right back," she told Dave, who nodded, as she headed towards her office. She looked around and quietly slipped into an empty office. Shutting the door and locking it, she turned to Heyman, who was sitting in a chair.

"I thought I told you to lock the door," she sneered at him.

Heyman shot her a cocky look. "You afraid people are gonna see you with me?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not everyday that I backstab everyone I know and work with."

Heyman snorted as he stood up. "Is that so? Changed your ways have you?"

"Go to hell, Heyman."

"Why exactly are you working with me?" he asked.

Stephanie sighed. "How many times are you going to ask me that?"

He studied her before nodded. "Alright…I won't ask anymore."

"Good," she snapped. Before either could say anything, they heard a knock on the door.

"Stephanie?"

She cursed, hearing Chris's voice on the other side. "Hold on."

"Expecting anyone?" Heyman chuckled.

"Shut up," she barked. Opening the door, she stepped out quickly and slammed the door shut behind her, Chris raising his eyebrows at her.

"What the hell is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

Chris looked at the closed door than at Stephanie. "I heard voices."

"It was the TV," she lied.

"Steph…you know that if someone sees you here…"

"I know," she said quietly.

"What're you even doing here?"

"I…" she sighed. "I can't tell you that Chris."

"What?"

"I can't tell you."

Still looking at her, Chris shook his head slowly, knowing that Stephanie would say nothing else about it. "Look, someone said that they saw Heyman in here earlier. Heard anything about it?"

Stephanie shook her head. "Nope."

Chris swallowed hard before saying, "Look, Steph, you hired me to be the GM, and that's what I'm doing. If you're hiding anything or not telling me something…you know I have to say something, right?"

"Yeah," she said softly. "And I expect you to, Chris."

"So…you're not hiding anything?"

Stephanie didn't say anything for a minute until her phone began to ring. Grabbing it from her belt she looked at the number, than at Chris. "I'm not hiding anything," she answered.

"Okay," Chris nodded and walked away as Stephanie flipped open her phone.

"What?"

* * *

"You think she'll actually do it?" Kurt asked Heyman as they sat in their seats.

Heyman shrugged, unbuttoning his suit jacket, and replied, "She better."

Kurt nodded. "But…what if she doesn't?"

Heyman raised an eyebrow and looked at Kurt. "Then I guess that'll be a big mistake on her part, now wouldn't it?" Kurt smiled and nodded while Heyman looked at him, or more precisely, his disguise. Kurt was wearing a wig, one that resembled him having short black hair. "That has to be the stupidest disguise I've ever seen," he mumbled, turning his attention to the ring.

Kurt rolled his eyes and subconsciously touched his wig when Heyman turned around.

* * *

About two hours later, Stephanie was pacing an office nervously. Hearing a knock at the door, she froze, until she heard a familiar voice. "Steph?"

Sighing, she opened the door and let Trish in, locking the door behind her. "Hey."

"Hey," Trish replied back, hugging Stephanie. "How are you?"

Stephanie chuckled nervously. "I complete wreck."

"How's Marissa?"

"She's in ICU. Shane's been with her the whole time."

"And the kids?"

"They're staying with Chris's family right now until all of this blow's over," Stephanie answered.

"Do you think it will?" Trish asked. "Blow over?"

Stephanie bit her lip nervously and shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted.

Trish sighed. "Have you talked to John at all?" Stephanie shook her head.

Before Trish could ask anything further, Stephanie piped up. "Is everything set?"

Trish nodded. "Amy's taking care of it."

"Does Paul and the others know?"

"No," Trish said. "But I really think they should."

Stephanie waved her hand. "They can't right now."

"How's Dave doing?"

"He's nervous."

"Of course," Trish noted. "I would be too. Hell…I am."

"Yeah…I'm sorry for bringing you into this…"

"No, I understand…"

"It's like a bad movie," Stephanie added. "Conning the people I care about."

Trish giggled. "It is a mess," she said. "Such a mess that I forgot whose side I'm on."

"You're on mine," Stephanie reminded her.

"Let me just get this straight," Trish said slowly. "You and your family are working together to bring down ECW and Heyman so you being fired was just a play?" Stephanie nodded. "But then, you and John schemed a break up, to make your family re-think the strategy?" Again, Stephanie nodded. "But, your parents being your parents, they didn't re-think it, so you and John got angry and decided to make a plan of your own. But then John acted out and made his own plan by quitting and vacating the title so then you had to go to Dave?"

"Yeah…"

"So you decided to align yourself with Heyman and work with him to get back at your parents and John. But then Heyman nearly killed Marissa so now you're rethinking your plan...again"

"Yep…that's just about it."

Trish rolled her eyes. "This is giving me a headache."

"Scheming is hard work," Stephanie said, slightly amused.

"But…what does Dave have to do with it? Where does he fit in? And…what about Chris? Why did you even hire him…?"

Stephanie raised her hands. "Too many questions, Trish. Once I hired Chris, all this happened. Believe me, I don't like keeping him in the dark, but I don't have a choice right now. I don't like lying to anyone."

"Still…what about Dave?"

Stephanie inhaled deeply. "Tonight….you'll find out."

Trish shook her head slowly. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"

* * *

It had finally come time. Stephanie knew, somewhere, her father, John, Heyman…everyone, was watching this match. The vacant WWE title was on the line in a battle royal. It meant something to ECW because of the Champion of Champions match that was coming soon. If ECW somehow managed to capture either gold of the WWE, it would tilt the balance and ECW would be able to put the company away for good. With two titles, getting the third one wouldn't be hard at all. It was a scenario that WWE never even thought of. That was one mistake in firing Stephanie; the idea was hers. The first superstar to enter the ring was Randy Orton. As Stephanie watched, she truly felt heartbroken. Randy was not only John's best friend, but she had grown to like him as a friend over the past few months. Once he had gotten his shit together, she promised him a chance at the title. Even though this was his chance…it also wasn't. After him, Shawn Michael's came out. Once more, a pang in heart. Seeing Shawn reminded Stephanie of Paul's sidelining injury. After Shawn's entrance, came Bobby Lashley. Stephanie personally never like Lashley, but he was a professional and he respected her, so in turn she did the same to him. After him, came Booker T. Even though Stephanie didn't like his character, she had granted it to him, because they were friends and he was an excellent wrestler. The next man was Chris Masters. Another ego character that Stephanie hated. As a person, he was sweet, but his character was such an ass that she wanted to puke.

She held in her breath as they waited for the next superstar. She already knew who it was, but everyone else didn't, and she took pride in that. Sneaking the man in the arena and hiding him until the end was pure genius of her. Once the music hit, the fans went wild. She could hear some workers in the back cheering in surprise as well as Batista came out. Going through his normal routine, he slowly walked down into the ring, taking in the cheers of the fans.

Because he knew it wouldn't last…

Once the match started…it was relentless. Batista clotheslined Masters so hard, it nearly took his head off. Once Batista stood up, Lashley decided to have his turn at him and got in a couple of good shots; big mistake. Incensed, Batista punched Lashley so hard, it shattered his nose. Bobby looked up at Batista as he leaned down to pick him up. "What the fuck is your problem man?" Bobby asked him as he held his bloody nose. Dave didn't answer; instead, he lifted Bobby up and painfully drove him into the mat. Picking him up again, he tossed him into the turnbuckle and began to beat on him. Randy, seeing the action that Dave was taking, grabbed him and turned him around, hitting him. Wrestling him to the floor, Randy knelt by his head. "What the hell are you doing, Dave? This wasn't in the script." Looking out in the crowd, Dave spotted Heyman and a disguised Kurt, both watching eagerly. Stephanie's words played over and over in his head and he swallowed hard. "Sorry," he whispered. "But the plans have changed."

Catching Randy off guard, he lifted him up and threw him into Booker and Chris, knocking both men down. Her rushed at a recovering Bobby, and rammed his shoulder into him painfully. Bobby cried out and dropped to his knees, in pain, holding his ribs. Seizing the chance, Dave grabbed him and lifted him up, hitting the Batista bomb and pinning him. Lashley was out. Getting up, he grabbed Michael's by the hair and threw him into the ropes. As he bounced back, Dave grabbed him, lifting him up, and dropped him on his knee. Michael spitted out blood as Dave pinned him. Now Michael's was out. Going back to work, he grabbed both Booker and Chris and lifted them up to chokeslam them. Randy rushed at Dave, kicking him in the stomach, but Dave lashed back and powerbombed him. Now Orton was out. Dave lifted up Masters just to slam him back onto the mat. He grabbed his ankle and twisted; hearing a 'pop', Chris cried out as Dave applied more pressure. With no other choice, Masters tapped. Dave then turned to the last person; Booker looked at him with anger, dread, and confusion. "What are you doing man?" If it wasn't clear to him now, then Dave knew that he wouldn't understand. He was doing what Stephanie asked him to do; and as a friend, you never questioned that. Especially if it was Stephanie. You never questioned a McMahon. Dave was living proof of that. As Booker rushed him, Dave ducked, bounced off the ropes and caught Booker in the throat, flipping him over. Stunned, Booker tried to take in some air, clueless to his surroundings. Before he knew it…it was over. Dave had won. Booker didn't understand why or how…but he did. The fans cheered and Dave greedily took the title and stared at it. He didn't jump the turnbuckle to share the glory with the fans. He just looked at Booker who was laying on the mat, still stunned as ever, who had sweat dripping off his body.

Before he knew it, the lights had changed, now flashing a strobe blue, and the fans had quieted down. Dave turned, toward the ramp, as Stephanie strode down the ring, a cocky grin on her face. Dave could tell though…she was just as every bit broken up about it as he was. But for the better of both worlds, he only met her cocky grin with his own, reminding him of the Evolution days.

It was probably then that the fans noticed.

Dave didn't come back _their_ champion. Stephanie took the microphone and walked next to Dave. Grasping his hand, she squeezed it, and he squeezed back, as she raised the mic to her lips and proudly proclaimed, "Here is your new ECW World Champion…Dave Batista!"

To say that the fans, viewers, and WWE workers were shocked, would be an understatement. Nevertheless, the fans booed…loudly.

Heyman and Kurt stood up, pleased at the turn of events.

Shane stared at the TV, his jaw dropping to the floor.

Chris, along with the other few workers, could only watch in horror.

Linda stood next to her husband as Vince had a heart attack at the betrayal.

Dave, to add to the shock, did something that even shocked Stephanie herself. He leaned in and kissed her.

A thousand miles away, as John watched, a relationship that was questionable, surely now was torn apart.


	22. Chapter 22

Just stepping out of the shower, Dave threw the towel around his shoulder as he walked into the bedroom of the hotel, to see Stephanie pacing the floor, her cell phone to her ear. She took one look at Dave before pressing a button and bringing the phone back up. Dave's guess was that she was checking her voicemail.

"Any luck?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes, hitting the same button again, deleting the message, just to listen for more. "I have like, fifty messages."

Dave whistled in surprise and opened a drawer, taking out his Rolex, and slipping it on as Stephanie continued to listen to her voice messages.

"_What the fuck was that stunt last night, Stephanie?" _he father screamed. _"I-I don't understand…"_

"_Steph," _Chris's voice. _"I guess there was something you weren't telling me…"_

"_Look, despite Dad swearing that you're not part of the family anymore," _Shane, _"I just thought you'd want to know that Marissa woke up. It was briefly…but she did…"_

"_Randy suffered a concussion, Bobby a broken nose, Michael had internal bleeding…"_

"_Steph…it's John." _Stephanie froze. _"I uh…" _He chuckled on the other line. _"It would probably be an understatement if I told you that I was surprised. I mean…you and Dave. And…not just that…but, betraying everyone. You know…I could've sworn that not too long along you were working on your relationship with your family and eager to become a face again…to have fans. But…you're working with Heyman? …I guess all that shit about us and this big plan to bring him down was just bullshit?" _Stephanie sank down to the bed and wiped the tears from her eyes as she listed to the message. _"I miss you. I swear I did and I know we had a little disagreement before but…it's just the bumps in the relationship. But this Stephanie…I don't know anymore. I just…I'm hoping it's not real. I really am. If it's not…I'm hoping you'll call. I'll uh…be watching next week. Both shows…"_

_End of message. To save…_

Stephanie closed the phone and sighed. Dave, seeing Stephanie upset, threw down the towel and sat down next to her.

"You alright?"

Stephanie snickered. "How can you ask that?"

Dave sighed. "Come on, Steph. You had to see this coming." She shook her head, burying her face in her hands. "This'll work out…all we have to do is play it out."

"And what if it doesn't?" she said, looking at him.

"Well…then I just committed career suicide and you just lost the people you care most about." Dave wrapped a comforting arm around her and added, "We both did."

* * *

Stephanie and Dave, the WWE belt slung around his shoulder, walked into Heyman's office. As they did, Heyman stood up from his desk and immediately shook Dave's hand and then Stephanie's.

"Well, Princess…I have to admit," Heyman said. "I didn't think you'd be able to pull it off but you and David make one hell of a team."

"Yes, well, easier said than done," Stephanie said, passing Dave a look.

"The media is raving!" Heyman exclaimed. "You dealt WWE quite a low blow. It's biggest star signing with ECW, capturing the WWE title to claim it as an ECW title and the boss's daughter was behind it the whole time! What a headline!"

"I think you're blowing this out of water, Paul," Dave said coolly.

Heyman raised an eyebrow and gave Stephanie a look, to which she only shrugged. "How so?"

Dave glanced at Stephanie before turning to Heyman. "This all happened last night. Not everyone has let it sink in. There's still a contract out there for the WWE with my name on it."

Heyman slowly sat back down and pondered the thought. "So, that means Vince still has you in chains."

"Well, not entirely," Stephanie said earning a curious look from Heyman. "We can use it to our advantage."

"How?"

"Well, since Dave was injured, and the draft has passed, his name was put under contract, but no brand."

"So…he's either Raw or Smackdown?" Heyman asked.

"Technically, yes," Stephanie said. "Monday night, my father will go out and demand an explanation. He will then inform us that Dave is still under contract. What we'll do is rip up the Raw portion of the contract and tell him that Dave is still under contract with Smackdown and has a title cause in his contract. He'll then challenged Edge for the title, win, and…"

"We'll have all three titles…" Heyman finished, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Yep," Stephanie said. Both her and Dave looked at each other, then at Heyman, and smiled.

* * *

"He is such an ass," Stephanie sneered.

Dave chuckled, earning a glare from Stephanie, before he only shook his head and watched the road as Stephanie jumped the highway.

"I can't believe the ego of that man," she continued. "He's a manic!"

"Well…he's Paul Heyman," Dave chuckled.

"Seriously…why would you try to kill your competition?" she demanded.

"You know who you're asking, right?"

But Stephanie ignored him. "You know he's been keeping taps on us, right?"

Dave nodded. "Kinda figured that out. The whole, 'keeping the image thing with us' up."

"Then he hires people to follow us…"

"He is crazy," Dave agreed.

"I am dreading next week," she whined.

"All you have to do is remember why you're doing this," Dave reminded her. "Just…drive forward and we'll get this over with."

Stephanie shook her head. "Still…I have a feeling that he has something up his sleeve. And it's not good."

* * *

"Well," Kurt said as he took a seat across from Heyman. "She did what she said she would."

Heyman nodded. "Yeah…but she's up to something."

Kurt frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Because I know Stephanie," he sneered. "The fact that she betrayed her boyfriend, her family, and everything she grew up with and around just proves that." Kurt watched as Heyman picked up the phone and grinned to himself. "Tony…its Paul. You tracking Stephanie McMahon? Yes…good. Tell your team Monday is a go."

Hanging up the phone, Kurt watching him carefully. "What's Monday?" he asked.

"Stephanie's judgment day."


End file.
